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THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY 

EDITED BY 
CASPAR WHITNEY 



THE WATER-FOWL FAMILY 



'j^^y^ 



THE WATER-FOWL 
FAMILY 



L. C SANFORD 
T. S. VAN DYKE 




IE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

-ONDON: MACMILLAN AND 
1903 

All righU ; 

EYOOHQ 3HT 5i3VO 



OVER THE DECOYS 



THE WATER-FOWL 
FAMILY 



BY 

L. C. SANFORD 
L. B. BISHOP 

AND 

T. S. VAN DYKE 




THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. 
1903 

All rights reserved 



THL LlhRARV OF 1 
CONGRtSS, 

Two Copies Received 

APR 25 '903 

Copyright Entry 
cuss Ct- xXc, Mo 

S ^ Zi^ 

COPY B, 



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Copyright, 1903, 
Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped March, 1903. 



Norfaooli i3re08 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 

WATER-FOWL 
By L. C. SA>fFORD 

PAGE 

Introductory i 

CHAPTER I 
Duck-shooting 6 

CHAPTER n 
Duck-shooting {continued') 56 

CHAPTER III 
Duck-shooting {continued) 118 

CHAPTER IV 
Duck-shooting {continued) 190 

CHAPTER V 
Goose-shooting . 205 

CHAPTER VI 
The Swans 258 

V 



VI 



Contents 



CHAPTER VII 

PAGE 

Rail-shooting . 268 



CHAPTER VIII 
Shore-bird Shooting 302 

CHAPTER IX 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) 330 

CHAPTER X 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) . . , , . 336 

CHAPTER XI 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) 451 

CHAPTER XII 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) 480 

CHAPTER XIII 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) 489 

CHAPTER XIV 
Shore-bird Shooting (continued) 496 



Contents vii 

THE WATER-FOWL OF THE PACIFIC 
COAST 

By T. S. Van Dyke 
CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

The Ducks 503 

CHAPTER n 
The Geese 532 

CHAPTER HI 
The Waders and Shore-birds 557 

DIAGNOSES OF FAMILIES AND GENERA 

The Water-fowl 565 

The Rails 571 

The Shore-birds 572 

INDEX 581 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Over the Decoys . . . Frontispiece — Photogravure 

PAGE 

Red-heads and Canvas-backs 50 

Along the Marsh 62 

Dusky or Black Ducks (Male and Female) ... 80 

Shovellers (Male and Female) 106 

Old-squaws (Male and Female) I54 

Hooded Mergansers . . 198 

Snow Geese 208 

White-fronted or Gambel's Geese .... 230 

Canada Geese 250 

Shooting Yellowlegs on Long Island .... 275 

King Rail 290 

American or Wilson's Snipe 344 ^ 

Greater Yellowlegs 408 

Willets 422 - 

Black-bellied Plover 452 " 

Green-winged Teal (Male and Female) .... 504 

Mallards 515 - 

Bay Snipe-shooting 540 

Bluebill 560 



IX 



THE WATER-FOWL FAMILY 

The Anatidae, or family of wild fowl, comprises 
the swans, geese, sea-ducks, river-ducks, and mer- 
gansers. From time immemorial this group of 
birds has been most important in its relations to 
man. Divided into various subfamilies, it con- 
tains nearly two hundred species, about sixty of 
which are North American. The pecuHar char- 
acteristics of these birds are well known : all have 
heavy bodies, and most of them long necks ; the 
bill varies much in shape in the different species, 
but is usually broad, covered with a soft skin and 
with a hard nail at the tip ; it is often provided 
with little comb-like processes situated on its 
inner edges, which assist in sifting the food 
from its common environment of mud and sand. 
The tongue is large and fleshy, adapted for all 
sorts of water- vegetable material and various Crus- 
tacea and shellfish which comprise the diet. The 
windpipe varies curiously in the different indi- 
viduals, being convoluted and twisted, thus afford- 
ing the volume of voice noted particularly among 
some of the geese and swans. The legs are short, 
the forward toes webbed, the tarsus and feet cov- 



2 The Water-fowl Family 

ered with a naked, scale-like skin, nicely adapting 
the bird for water. The wings vary in length in 
comparison to the body, but are commonly rather 
short and specially strong, calculated for speedy, 
powerful flight, making possible the long, tedious 
migration peculiar to many of the species. The 
plumage is thick and dense, consisting of short, 
soft, outer feathers over a skin coating of down. 
In many of the species the color is plain, and of 
a protective character well suited to the haunts 
of the bird — a condition which is regularly true 
of the female and the young. 

The males of a number of varieties of ducks, 
however, when full-plumaged in the late fall and 
winter, are unsurpassed in beauty of coloring ; an 
attire that is retained until incubation has begun. 
About this time, the birds moult, the male assuming 
a dress more or less closely resembling the female. 
During the moulting period for a while many of 
our water-fowl are helpless, the large pinions of 
the wing having been lost. Now every protection 
against the depredations of the natives and other 
enemies is essential, and hence nature's provision 
in the change of color. The males of many of 
our water-fowl, after incubation has been estab- 
lished, separate from the females, and gather by 
themselves on neighboring bodies of water, where 
greater security is afforded than the shores and 
marshes selected for nesting purposes could give. 



The fVater-fowl Family 3 

The female attends to all of the duties of nesting 
and hatching, bringing up the brood, and leading 
them south when an all-provident nature directs 
the weary flight. In the different species of geese 
and swan both birds divide the duties of nesting. 
The migration of our water-fowl is one of the 
wonders of instinct; gathering in flocks some- 
times of vast proportions, under the leadership of 
experienced pilgrims, the ranks proceed on a 
straight, true course, probably often making no 
stops until the permanent quarters of the fall 
and winter have been reached. This trait is most 
marked among the more powerful flyers, the geese 
and swans. From the breeding-ground to the last 
stopping-place, and all along the line where cir- 
cumstances have permitted, this vast army has 
been beset with destruction on all sides. The 
Eskimo and the Indian have robbed their nests, 
destroyed the young, and killed them when help- 
less from their moulting. Formerly the geese 
were slaughtered in thousands at this time, and 
salted for winter use, actually, in some instances, 
herded together and the entire body killed. Once 
within the boundaries of the United States, their 
persecution is incessant ; every device known has 
been used against them, with results that within 
the past few years the diminution in numbers in 
many of the old resorts has been most apparent. 
From the remotest north to the tropics, wherever 



4 The Water-fowl Family 

man has gone, he has found these birds and waged 
a relentless warfare on them. Recently I heard 
of a device which has been common for years 
in southern Mexico. Not far from the city of 
Mexico, the larger lakes, which are the winter 
home for countless thousands of wild fowl, are 
leased for large sums to Mexicans who gun for 
the market. Cannon are placed in favorable posi- 
tions along the shore, and for days the birds are 
baited within range, then a discharge is fired into 
a mass of ducks, and literally hundreds are killed. 
This has been a local practice for many years. 

No birds are more essential to man than the 
wild fowl ; they serve him with food and in many 
regions with clothing ; the soft downy skin of the 
eider being regularly used by many of the Eski- 
mos for undergarments, while the down of these 
birds is an important article of commerce in many 
countries of the north. In Norway and Iceland 
the breeding eiders are protected. The islands 
are carefully watched and every facility afforded 
the sitting ducks. Under these circumstances the 
bird can regularly be lifted from the nest while 
the eggs are removed, a sufficient number being 
left to hatch. In some instances these birds 
actually nest within the natives' houses, and there 
is a story of a Norwegian who gave up his fire- 
place to an eider. As opposed to the wanton 
destruction which threatens our water-fowl almost 



The IVater-fowl Family 5 

universally, it is specially pleasant to see these 
instances of protection. In countries where parks 
and gardens afford refuge, the wild duck are 
always quick to take advantage. In the United 
States, the Yellowstone Park is the best instance 
of this protection, and here every lake along the 
highways is patronized by ducks and geese as 
tame and unsuspecting as barnyard fowl. In one 
instance I saw a flock of Canada geese circle 
around one of the hotels, and alight in the yard, 
where they fed without the slightest concern. 
About the same hour daily this flock of fifteen or 
more would appear for their evening meal. 

Many different varieties of wild fowl are seen 
in various parts of our country in a state of do- 
mestication, particularly where decoy shooting is 
afforded. The Canada goose quickly makes the 
most of circumstances and poses as a certain lord 
among the domestic ducks and geese, often mating 
with a barnyard goose. The offspring have the 
general coloring and characteristics of the wild 
bird, but like most hybrids are regularly barren. 
This is a present instance of the relationship of our 
barnyard geese and ducks to their wild ancestors. 
The progenitors of the domestic race can be traced 
to a comparatively few species. Among the most 
notable are the bean goose, the mallard, and mus- 
covy ducks ; these being the varieties most common 
in countries where ancient civilization existed. 



CHAPTER I 

DUCK-SHOOTING 

An almost irresistible desire comes over most 
men, at times, to change the routine of civilized 
life for the quiet and solitude of the wild. For- 
est, field, and waters all offer their inducements, 
in many instances combined with hardship and 
fatigue ; and yet to him who loves it, actual suf- 
fering often only adds to the satisfaction of the 
reward, doubly pleasing as the result of endurance 
and patience. With a large number of those indi- 
viduals to whom the gun and all that goes with 
it is dear, the wild duck brings up the pleasantest 
recollections and anticipations. The ponds and 
lakes of the North, and the prairie sloughs, come 
before him, where they nested and spent the sum- 
mer, restless at the time of approaching fall for 
the southern migration. He remembers drifting 
down the river with a gentle current, amid Octo- 
ber foliage, to where alders and willows lined the 
bank and darkened the water; where he saw the 
ripple that betrayed the presence of wild duck, 
before they took wing with frightened splashing. 
Early mornings come to his mind, when he break- 

6 



Duck-shooting 7 

fasted before dawn, and pushed out from the shore 
into the narrow bay, its surface hardly ruffled by 
a light breeze. Dark lines marked the points of 
marsh, as yet indistinct ; a flock of birds leaving 
the water made the first sound ; then the soft 
whistling of overhead wings. Quietly the boat 
moved on ; finally the blind was reached. Then 
the few minutes at sunrise, of anticipation, the 
first birds, a line coming out of the east, getting 
blacker and bigger, soon in range over him ; the 
first shot, and the splash of a fallen bird. Wet 
and cold days are recalled, when to lie low in 
the blind was misery, and even the excitement of 
watching a steady flight of birds could not warm 
him. Or perhaps, hidden in the ice behind a few 
decoys, he waited at a hole of open water, too 
cold to shoot, though ducks were plenty. Yet few 
men could appreciate better than he a blazing 
fire or the comfort of plain food and a rough bed. 
With winter's waning came the procession of wild 
fowl from the South, to tarry until spring; then 
the line far overhead leading north — his last 
glimpse. 

The methods by which wild fowl are hunted 
vary in different sections of our country. Shoot- 
ing over decoys is probably the most universal 
means. In those locations where birds are accus- 
tomed to the wiles of man, their cunning is a 
match for his skill, and his skill is great. They 



8 The Water-fowl Family 

know the points and blinds, and decoys do not 
easily deceive. Hence the greatest care in every 
detail is necessary. The gunner's place of con- 
cealment should be carefully prepared ; it must 
closely resemble the surroundings, and be as 
inconspicuous as possible. In places where the 
slightest change would be noticed, sink boxes are 
often placed ; blinds sunk below the surface level, 
on sand-bars or flat marshes. Used in places ex- 
posed to tide and high water, baled out and care- 
fully banked up with sand when occasion requires, 
next to the battery it is most effective as a blind. 
For those birds whose haunts are the open bays 
and who shun the marshes, the battery is em- 
ployed, and when well managed this means is the 
deadliest of all. Shallow water and quiet weather 
are necessary for its use. A hundred or more 
decoys surround it, placed to accommodate the 
gunner and bring in the birds at the most con- 
venient angle, which for a right-hand man is the 
left side. In case ducks come in to the right, 
a quick gunner can generally swing into a posi- 
tion to shoot by throwing both feet out of the 
battery and turning to the right. In all kinds of 
duck-shooting the most successful gunner is the 
one who keeps out of sight all the time. This is 
specially true in shooting from a sink box or bat- 
tery. While watching for ducks under these cir- 
cumstances, the eye should be just above the level 



Duck-shooting 9 

of the box, and when the birds are sighted there 
should be no motion ; the slightest movement often 
attracts attention and startles, while if a gunner 
remains perfectly still often no notice is paid to 
him, even though exposed. In shooting from 
blinds, if possible birds should be watched through 
the blind, and not over the top. It is a great ad- 
vantage to keep the game in sight. In this way 
a gunner is more likely to know exactly the time 
to shoot. The habit of looking up and then 
drawing back is almost sure to attract the atten- 
tion of a decoying bird and shy it off. As to 
when to shoot over decoys, it is often possible to 
judge more or less of a bird by the way in which 
it hails; flying low down, the chances of its de- 
coying are much better than if the flight is high. 
On general principles, the man who lets a bird 
come in as close as it will, can choose his time 
and distance. No kinds of shooting are subject 
to more variations than duck-shooting. While 
under favorable circumstances, over decoys, it 
may be an easy matter to shoot well ; when wind 
and storm are complications, the greatest skill is 
required. Few birds fly with more speed. Few 
thumps bring a greater satisfaction than that of a 
falling duck folded up from some point way over- 
head. 

As to the question of guns. Some years ago 
the ten-bore was the popular gun for ducks, but 



lo The IVater-fowl Family 

sportsmen have generally come around to the 
twelve as the most satisfactory, except in a few 
instances. The man who shoots consistently a 
twelve-bore gun will find it the best for all duck- 
shooting. There are a few places where over- 
head shooting is to be had at birds beyond reach 
of the twelve-bore, and eight and even four bore 
guns are shot. But excuses for using large bore 
guns can seldom be found, and they should be 
relegated to the past. 

In many sections of our country, clubs fitted 
out with all possible comforts are the resort of 
the duck hunter. Provided with a trained gun- 
ner who manages the blind and sets the decoys, 
who watches and calls, duck-hunting is a different 
story. In one of the clubs near Boston, where 
duck and goose shooting is had occasionally, the 
blind is built as an addition to the club-house, and 
when any luckless birds are sighted a bell touched 
by the man on the lookout rings throughout the 
establishment, and members are summoned to 
the guns at any hour of the day or night. In the 
South the most desirable locations on the Chesa- 
peake and on the bays of Virginia and North 
Carolina are occupied by clubs. Conspicuous 
among them are the Carroll's Island, the Narrows 
Island, and the Currituck clubs. In the days of 
canvas-back on the Chesapeake the Carroll's Island 
Club was one of the most famous in existence, 



Duck-shooting 1 1 

and the old records of ducks and ducking days 
there would fill many an interesting volume. As- 
sociated with these clubs is the Chesapeake Bay 
dog, a breed in which the old Newfoundland was 
marked. Few dogs possess the wisdom and 
courage of these, and when well trained they are 
unequalled as retrievers. Of a dirty sedge color, 
the dog lies close to the blind, motionless, but 
ever watchful. After the bird has dropped, he 
waits the word and then is off. Few cripples 
escape him. He follows a wing-broken duck 
with a persistence in some instances wonderful, 
judges the direction of the diving bird, and 
gradually closes in on it. When two birds fall, 
the wounded one is selected. Marsh grass can- 
not conceal from his nose a crippled duck. He 
knows the live decoys as well as you do. Even 
a wounded swan stands small chance with him. 
These are the traits a good dog possesses, but 
a good Chesapeake dog is rare. With all the 
facilities that can exist for the gunner, duck- 
hunting in the eastern United States is getting 
more and more to be an art. Wild ducks cer- 
tainly seem to adapt themselves to circumstances. 
They have measured the range of modern guns 
and smokeless powder, yet their cunning certainly 
adds to the satisfaction of getting them. In the 
far West, where nearly all ducks exist in abun- 
dance and shooting is easy, the character of the 



12 The PVater-fowl Family 

sport changes. There is more satisfaction in 
one Long Island black duck than a dozen Dakota 
red-heads. But wherever seen there are few 
more welcome sights to many sportsmen than a 
flock of wild ducks. 

FROM PASSES 

This method represents, more than any other, 
fairness and skill ; it consists in waiting for the 
birds along the line of flight, and can be practised 
wherever the flocks take any particular course 
over land. The lakes and sloughs of our Western 
states offer the greatest facilities for pass shooting, 
although in the East in various places along the 
coast, where narrow bars or breakwaters lie be- 
tween the feeding-grounds and resting-places, the 
same means may be employed. When the birds 
are obliged to cross these points in locations 
where there is much gunning, the danger is 
quickly appreciated, and they soar high up in 
approaching, making the shots long ones. In 
places along the New England coast this shoot- 
ing can be obtained, the ducks flying from the 
larger bodies of water into the smaller bays and 
up the rivers to feed, passing out again in the 
evening, or, in the case of certain varieties, com- 
ing on to the marshes toward dusk to feed and 
spend the night. Occasionally the ducks are 
well out of reach of guns of ordinary bore and can 



Diick-sbooting 1 3 

only be brought down with the heaviest charges. 
Stormy, windy weather alters the flight, and at 
this time they come low, within range. 

In North Dakota pass shooting can even now 
be enjoyed as in perhaps no other country, yet 
here the devastation of the past few years is 
noticeable, and the wild fowl are no longer seen 
in the hordes of the past. It was near Sanborn, 
North Dakota, a few years ago, that the writer 
enjoyed a week's shooting of this character. 
There were four of us in the party, and our head- 
quarters was a farm some forty miles from the 
railroad. The hunting was done by driving over 
the prairie to the various lakes in the vicinity, 
where it was a simple matter, in a few hours' 
morning shooting, to reach the Dakota limit of 
twenty-five birds to a man. The first day's 
experience I shall always remember. The prairies 
of North Dakota now are largely wheat-fields, the 
stubbles of which, toward the end of summer, 
are the feeding-ground of thousands of prairie- 
chickens, so it was natural that the large road- 
wagon contained, besides ourselves, two bird dogs. 
We had spent the greater part of the day driving, 
stopping once in a while to hunt for chickens, 
with very fair success. Toward the end of the 
afternoon a good-sized slough, a short distance 
from the road, attracted our attention ; the horses 
were turned toward the top of a knoll, and we 



14 The Water-fowl Family 

looked down on a sizable marsh, its edges sur- 
rounded largely by reeds and rushes. The sight 
that greeted us is beyond my powers of de- 
scription, and for a minute we all gazed spell- 
bound. About the shores we could see a little 
water, elsewhere none ; the surface of that pond 
was one black mass of ducks, hundreds and thou- 
sands. Fortunately an old hand was along. As 
we started to get ready, he checked us, " Wait 
until we see the pass." Presently, successive 
flocks leading into the lake from the opposite 
side told their course. By this time we could 
wait no longer. The team was driven into a little 
hollow, and the man who " knew it all " was 
responsible for the promise it would stand. 
Then came the question of the dogs ; " Tie them 
to the wheels and come along." We followed the 
shore, keeping just far enough back not to be 
observed, stopping now and then to look at that 
sight of ducks. Soon we were among the reeds 
and high grass of the farther end and could see 
the continuation of the slough in a little chain of 
ponds beyond. There were more birds than I 
believed could ever crowd into one place. We 
separated a few feet, forming a line across the 
most likely pass ; there was no need of a blind ; 
the grass hid us well. During this time several 
flocks had passed over within range, but not a 
shot had been fired; we were all getting ready. 



DiLck-shooting 1 5 

I took off my coat and put all of my possessions 
in the line of cartridges on it. Pretty soon a flock 
of shovellers swept overhead and called forth the 
first shots. At the reports there was the mighti- 
est splashing ever heard ; the whole mass seemed 
in motion ; a few seconds and they were on us. 
" Pick out the canvas and red-heads," yelled the 
man who had been there before. " Pick out 
nothing," hollered his next-door neighbor, as he 
fired both barrels into the air and loaded and 
fired again. It certainly was bedlam let loose. 
All I can remember about this particular moment 
is, that everybody was shooting as fast as he could 
load, and ducks were overhead all the time, con- 
tinuous lines of them ; the air was black ; shovel- 
lers, teal, mallard, gadwall, every other kind of a 
duck that grows in Dakota, but somehow very 
few stopped. How long this flight lasted it isn't 
necessary to say, but our guns were so hot we 
could hardly, hold them. In a short time there 
were fewer birds ; small flocks, separated by breath- 
ing intervals, gave us an opportunity to get 
collected and straightened out. We attended to 
business better. A bunch of red-head, about the 
last left, appeared just overhead. The first man cut 
down his two, and the rest of us did up the flock. 
We picked up six. Straggling flocks of teal and 
shoveller, occasionally mallard, used up the last 
cartridges, and we gathered up the spoils. On 



1 6 The IVater-fowl Family 

a pass where the shooting is fast there is no time 
to mark and pick up fallen birds at once, and as a 
result many are lost. 

During all this fusillade our vehicle with its 
trusted pair had remained as still as any dead 
duck ; but for some reason our approach changed 
their ideas, and to our utter consternation they 
were actually walking off with two dogs tied to the 
wheels, protesting. We ran, we yelled, we cursed, 
did everything to frighten a team that didn't need 
any stimulation. They broke from a trot to a 
dead run. Fortunately the dogs had broken loose. 
My last glimpse of that outfit was a small black 
spot on the horizon, going like " hell bent." The 
sequel to our first day's duck-shooting in North 
Dakota was one night in a haystack. 

OVER DECOYS 

No form of duck-shooting is so common as 
that in which decoys are used. The habit our 
wild fowl have of flocking together makes the 
wooden images, even in places where gunning 
is constant, irresistible. In our more popular 
resorts, however, wild ducks are wary, perhaps 
warier than ever, but there are few that do not 
sooner or later yield to the attractions of a decoy. 
Often, though, little defects in the decoys are 
noticed and incoming birds appreciate the mis- 
take in time to turn off ; hence the greatest care 



Duck-shooting 1 7 

should be taken in the making and coloring of 
the stool. 

The best decoys are made of cork, carefully 
weighted and painted, sometimes provided with 
glass eyes, the paint on cork being less liable 
to shine and gleam in certain lights than that 
on wood, although for most practical purposes 
wooden decoys suffice. Many of our clubs go 
even farther than this and employ live decoys. 
Live ducks used with the wooden stool are always 
very efficient and allure the wildest birds. In a 
few Massachusetts clubs the use of live decoys 
reaches its highest degree of proficiency. Here 
live birds are actually let loose from coops, trained 
to fly about the lake, and return to the stand, bring- 
ing with them any wild relatives they happen to 
encounter. At the first suspicion of anything do- 
ing, a well-trained duck decoy lifts his voice and 
quacks — the louder and more often, the better. 
No wild fowl in the vicinity can resist. The wild 
birds reply and are answered ; they turn, circle, 
and alight among their own. In Massachusetts 
ducks are not only permitted to alight, but are 
also persuaded to huddle up and get their heads 
together, with the result that often not a single 
begrudged bird escapes the fusillade, — a shooting 
custom excused on the ground that ducks are 
few and far between. On Long Island there are 
a few stands of live decoys, and farther south 



1 8 The Heater-fowl Family 

along the coast the more important clubs regu- 
larly have their pen of geese and ducks. The 
difficulty of carrying stool, in many places out 
of reach of boats, suggested the practicability of 
canvas decoys. These are blown up like foot- 
balls and corked, their lightness and portability 
being an advantage; but they are difficult to 
weight down, and bob around considerably in 
any wind, and if the sportsman is addicted to 
the habit of shooting birds on the water, his 
decoys are liable to sudden collapse. On the 
marshes wire rods are sometimes used to support 
the dead ducks, and these answer admirably as 
decoys, the wire being slipped underneath the 
skin of the neck. In cases of emergency, various 
means are used to attract the birds; lumps of 
sod or bunches of seaweed, in places not much 
gunned, are often effectual. In certain localities 
where there is sea-shooting, strings of bladders 
are strung out from the boats. Flat decoys are 
seldom satisfactory for ducks, as the flock, circling 
around before it lights, detects the difference. 

Considerable skill is required in setting out the 
stool. They should be placed at just the right 
distance from the blind ; if on a marsh, in a pool 
of water, for the reflection then makes them con- 
spicuous from afar. It should always be remem- 
bered that ducks come in to decoys best against 
the wind, and the stand of stool should be so 



Duck-shooting 19 

located as regards the blind that birds about to 
come need not be forced too close to the gunner, 
when they inevitably sheer off, giving a poor shot, 
but in such position that the decoying bird is at 
the easiest possible angle to shoot. Next to de- 
coys the blind is all-important. Having selected 
the most favorable situation for it, the construc- 
tion depends on circumstances. It should re- 
semble closely the surroundings and be as small 
and inconspicuous as possible. In exposed places 
hay, grass, or seaweed are often available and 
useful ; in winter, cakes of ice. If the location 
permits it, a pit can be dug and a box or barrel 
sunk. Numerous portable blinds have been sug- 
gested, of canvas or other material ; but these 
usually fail to give much satisfaction. Of the 
various craft employed in duck-shooting, it is un- 
necessary to go into detail here. The principle 
of a duck boat depends upon whether it is to be 
used in shallow water on marshes and flats or off- 
shore, where deep water and sudden squalls make 
a strong boat necessary. The craft for rivers and 
marshes should be light and low, with a flat bot- 
tom ; these boats are generally decked over. 

Points and the edges of marshy ponds are 
favorite locations for decoying ducks, and this 
method of shooting is in universal use along the 
bays of the coast and throughout the interior. 
The sounds off the shores of North Carolina 



20 The PVater-fowl Family 

have always been, and are now, among the most 
famous resorts for water-fowl in the eastern 
United States. Most of the available marshes 
here are owned or leased by clubs. The Nar- 
rows Island Club, in Currituck Sound, happens 
to be the one with which I am familiar. This 
club-house is situated on one of the islands in 
the bay, a short sail from the mainland. I recall 
a few pleasant days spent here not long since. Our 
arrival was late one Saturday afternoon. Sunday 
is one of the three days of rest provided by law 
for the wild fowl of North Carolina. In the morn- 
ing from the lookout on the roof of the house we 
scanned the bay with glasses. Wherever there 
was water there were flocks of geese and ducks. 
Hardly half a mile from the house a bank of white 
caught the eye, and six swan floated peacefully on 
the quiet water. In the pond a few feet from the 
club were a flock of fifteen or twenty mallard ; 
until they rose it never occurred to me that they 
were not decoys. With such impressions I looked 
forward to the first ducking day with every antici- 
pation. We drew first choice and took Brant 
Pond; breakfast was served in the dark, and when 
we reached the little sail-boat off the dock, a half- 
moon was the only light. Our one boatman and 
gunner stacks the decoys in the bow, and with 
them a crate with three live ducks. He sets up 
a small sail, and with the faint breeze of early 



Duck-shooting 2 1 

morning we drift down the channel into the bay. 
In places the little craft passes close to the shore, 
and every now and then the clamorous quacking 
of ducks, startled by the boat's dim outline, breaks 
on the air. The decoys in the crate quack back ; 
presently a near-by honk tells of geese, and soon 
we see the dark line just rising from the surface 
of a pond close by, warned by the first streaks 
of light that it is leaving time. Now the bay 
broadens, and with a fresher breeze the small boat 
pegs along toward the island, the faint outline of 
which appears in front. Whistling wings, high 
overhead, are heard, and a flock of red-head in 
wavy line pass to their feeding-grounds farther 
south ; soon another and several, keeping the 
same course. These sights and others make us 
yearn for Brant Pond; it is still a mile or more 
away; the boat seems just creeping. The law 
fixes the shooting hours as between sunrise and 
sunset, and the sun is not yet up. As we reach 
the marsh, a narrow channel into the grass lies 
just ahead, and through this our craft is pushed. 
It broadens into Brant Pond, and presently we 
find ourselves on the inner shore, close to the 
blind. A lone flock of black duck still linger 
well out of reach across the pond, watch proceed- 
ings a minute, and then leave. We carry our 
guns and shells to a jutting point where a clump 
of high grass marks the blind. A flat plank on 



22 The M^ater-fowl Family 

stakes serves as a seat, and we bring a box or two 
from the boat for our cartridges. 

The decoys are being set ; twenty-five or thirty 
wooden stool, mostly black duck and mallard with 
a few red-head and a string or two of broadbill, 
comprise our stand. They are arranged in two 
separate bunches, out far enough from shore to be 
conspicuous, and in such position that any bird 
decoying will come well to our left. Lastly, the 
live decoys are staked out. We have three, — two 
drakes and a duck. The drakes are placed just 
outside of the wooden stool ; each is tied to a little 
platform driven into the shallow water ; the duck 
is fastened near shore. By separating live decoys 
in this way, they are generally more noisy. Sun- 
rise marks the hour, we are close on time, the 
expectations of the past few days have reached 
their height, and some of the countless flocks we 
have seen will soon be in evidence ; but ducks are 
uncertain always and hereabouts well educated. 

The hunted points and ponds are better known 
to every mallard than to the gunner ; they know 
his office hours, and are particular about dropping 
in until late. We watch a small flock of ruddy 
duck diving in front, the only inhabitants of the 
pond. There is nothing else there, and nothing 
else comes. We begin to experience change of 
sentiment, anticipation is on the wane, not a 
quack or a distant honk to raise hopes ; even the 



Duck-shooting 23 

live decoys have given up getting excited. Stories 
of when ducks were thick and a man did business 
all day, any day, begin to get monotonous. It is 
past noon, and the only result of the morning on 
Brant Pond is an appetite. We are beginning 
to discuss pulling up, but finally comes a break : 
a sudden sharp quack from our tame duck starts 
the other two live decoys. A single black duck 
is heading for the blind, way up, but not too high 
for a shot. He comes straight overhead and gets 
two barrels, one in the neck ; the next second he 
smashes through the grass, our first bird. Soon 
a flock of mallard appear in front ; they answer 
the decoys, circle once, then set their wings and 
come. One lights, three more hover close, four 
shots, two drop ; the third sags off, hard hit. The 
next arrivals are two pintail ; the white breasts and 
long necks mark them at a distance ; they plunge 
in to the stool, but spring high as we rise to shoot, 
and both shots go underneath. For an hour a 
little flight kept up, mostly mallard and black 
duck. Three black duck drop in across the pond 
and swim up to the decoys. These are the last. 
The shot is a sunset gun. Fifteen ducks in all. 
As we leave the marsh, whistling wings proclaim 
beginning dusk. All overhead seems ducks ; 
now and then quacks from the long grass mark 
the resting-place of mallard. The night residents 
of Brant Pond have come. My first day's duck- 



24 The IVater-fowl Family 

shooting at Currituck comes to me as I write 
these Hnes. I have shot over many times the 
first black duck of that afternoon, and probably as 
often missed that pair of pintail. 

IN THE WILD-RICE FIELDS 

In a large part of our middle western country 
are shallow marshy lakes, surrounded by vast 
stretches of high grass and wild rice. These 
are the natural resorts of wild fowl ; here the 
countless flocks, wearied by the tiresome jour- 
ney from the north, gather with the first frosts 
of fall, to rest and feed and fatten, now in most 
of the old haunts a poor vestige of the past, but 
still in vast numbers. Shooting in these places 
is often without decoys and hence difificult, the 
birds sweeping over the marsh with speed un- 
equalled. In such resorts formerly many ducks 
bred ; at the present time the summer residents 
are principally a few teal and shovellers, with an 
occasional mallard. The great throng of breed- 
ing ducks now pass farther on to more northern 
sloughs. Early in September comes the first 
shooting; the birds are mostly teal and the 
young of the year, just able to jump from the 
grass a few feet in front of a fiat-bottomed skif¥ 
pushed through the water. Many are killed at 
this time, and hardly any bird ranks higher for 
the table. Along the devious creeks that in 



Dtwk-shooting 25 

many places intersect the marshes, the pusher 
shoves his craft, with the gunner seated in the 
bow and ready. A swish of wings from the dry 
rushes, and he finds himself startled by a flock of 
blackbirds; a bittern flops from the grass, and 
with a croak protests against intrusion. Now a 
bend is rounded, and close to the bank, a few feet 
in front, sit half a dozen teal. Instantly they 
jump, the first shot misses, the second, steadier, 
breaks a wing, and the first bird of the season 
drops, a cripple ; the shots start half a dozen flocks, 
and the skiff is quickly pushed into the grass. 
In a moment four birds cut by, and as they sheer 
off from the gun, string out in a line. The first 
is well led, but at the report, the last closes up his 
wings and falls with the splash of a dead bird. 
A few more shots at passing birds, and you push 
on. Soon with startled quacking a half-dozen 
black ducks spring into the air, leaving one 
behind, hard hit with the first, dropped dead with 
the second shot; and so on through the early 
morning. Occasionally the pusher calls in an 
uncertain flock, but most of the successful shots 
are at birds jumping in close range, for under 
these circumstances the speed of flight is not 
great. This method of duck-hunting belongs 
only to the early fall, before the young birds have 
learned wisdom from experience. 

Later in the autumn these same resorts wel- 



26 The Water-fowl Family 

come the northern hordes. When October ripens 
the wild grain, countless thousands gather in the 
rice fields. On the larger marshes, any point on 
the feeding-grounds affords a blind. Early morn- 
ing and evening are the moving times. With the 
first streaks of dawn you paddle along the reed- 
grown shore. The feeding-grounds are marked 
by the frequent clamor of resting birds. Now 
the loud quacking of mallard is answered by a 
flock overhead, and you see a faint line in the 
dim light and hear the swish of wings. Soon 
some ducks take wing, startled by the presence of 
the boat, and the noise and clatter they make in 
getting under way start hundreds. The air is 
filled with reverberating wings ; you can hardly 
wait to reach the point where broken grass and 
sedge afford sufficient cover for the skiff. On 
each side is a considerable expanse of open water. 
It is now light enough to shoot if the birds come 
close, and hardly a minute before a dark line 
appears, looking black and large, against the 
yellow background of beginning day. They are 
closer than you thought, and are out of range 
almost before you break the silence of morning 
with the first shot. Frightened ducks fill the air, 
circle, and lead in all directions. A bunch of 
birds lighter than the others heads toward your 
point ; alert at the first motion in the grass as you 
slowly raise the gun, they flare up into the air, all 



Duck-sbooting 27 

in a huddle, and a well-placed shot stops two, — 
all, for the last one takes the second barrel as he 
sheers off wounded. They are sprigtail, the 
wildest of the aggregation. There is no time to 
waste ; flock after flock move by, and for a time 
you hardly dare push" out for fallen birds. Over- 
head, in front, and whistling wings behind cause 
you to turn and try a hopeless shot as a flock 
swings out of range. Mallard, black duck, 
widgeon, all are there ; occasionally a few red- 
head, and some ducks of minor importance, but 
the bag is chiefly mallard. With sunrise the 
birds are on the wing and well scattered. As 
they pass by neighboring points of marsh, boom- 
ing guns tell the same story; there is no safe 
place. The shots are few, and you make the most 
of them. A single mallard, high up, but straight 
overhead, is the last. The gun leads him a good 
four feet, and you hear the shot strike, a second 
before he doubles up and crashes through the 
dry grass behind, a fall that makes up for many 
a miss. Shooting under these circumstances is 
always difficult, for the birds are at top speed and 
all sorts of angles; yet the satisfaction of a clean 
shot is doubly great. 

SHOOTING FROM A BUSH BLIND 

In some of the hunting resorts of the South 
ducks are decoyed from bush blinds staked out 



28 The IVater-fowl Family 

in the shallow water. These in many instances 
are built on the feeding-grounds in the summer 
and early fall, so as to allow the birds to become 
accustomed to them. A bush blind consists of a 
number of tree-tops driven into the mud, forming 
a screen of sufficient height to conceal well the 
skiff which is pushed in at the open end. A large 
number of decoys are then placed in front. Sev- 
eral years ago two of us spent a few days ducking 
on the James River, near Westover. Our host 
had placed at our disposal everything, from his 
house to decoys. We were in charge of a darky 
who knew all the wiles of Virginia ducks; his 
name was Wat Green, and no man, black or white, 
could equal Wat in the duck business. It was 
early Christmas morning when we were called to 
leave the comforts of bed for the cold outside. A 
cup of coffee and a roll served as a starter. I look 
back on that cup of coffee as the one thing that 
carried me through one of the most uncomfortably 
cold days I ever faced. Wat opened the front 
door and latched it without a creak; we passed 
out into the cold morning. It was blowing a gale 
and snowing, the first snow of the season ; the day 
before had been mild as summer; the contrast 
wasn't warming. It was only a few steps to the 
landing where there was a large boat well filled with 
decoys, and a skiff which we towed along. Wat 
rowed, and we envied him.. The cold that swept 



Duck-shooting 29 

the river with every blast of wind went to the 
bones. " We'll see canvas to-day shuah," but even 
the thought of canvas-back didn't warm up much. 
It seemed a long while before we reached the bay 
on the other side ; this was covered with sheet ice. 
By some misfortune a single duck about now 
passed within shot of the boat, and by a still greater 
misfortune he was winged ; for in attempting to 
finish him, between the duck and my companion 
and Wat, I was landed feet first in about four feet 
of water — a trifle high for boots. I can feel myself 
shiver as I recall it. There was no going back ; 
the only thing to do was to go ashore and build a 
fire. Meanwhile Wat set the decoys in front of 
a bush blind near shore. Before he had finished, a 
flock of broadbill dropped in ; this was the signal 
for getting started, and we soon found ourselves in 
the blind, bobbing around in a leaky skiff, left to the 
mercy of a northeast wind and a snow-storm. Wat 
went back to the fire and incidentally put out two 
or three decoys offshore. It was a day for ducks 
if not for anything else. We were scarcely fixed 
when over the wooded point in front a black line 
appeared; in a few seconds it turned into a flock of 
broadbill, and circling around the cove headed for 
the stool. There were twenty or more ; they all 
came in and all went out, though somebody fired 
both barrels. Another flock came into sight from 
the same direction and presently, were hovering 



30 The Water-fowl Family 

over the decoys. We both fired, and not a bird 
stopped. How many times this happened I do not 
know. My one recollection of this day was a 
continual flight of ducks. It was simply impos- 
sible to shoot. Choppy water and a leaky boat 
kept one of us busy continually. We took turns 
holding the skiff still while the other man fired. 
We tried holding on to the stake with one hand 
and shooting with the other. It was hopeless ; the 
sleet and snow were blinding as we faced the 
wind. Wet cartridges stuck and the guns would 
hardly open and shut; but ducks there were, a 
steady stream, small strings leading over the point, 
coming with the wind, swooping by the decoys and 
dropping among the stool. The birds were mostly 
broadbill, occasionally black duck. From out a 
flock of mallard a single green-head circled in, 
and hovered, close in front, the first we had seen. 
" That mallard's mine," and gathering together the 
little strength left, I let him have both barrels to 
find I'd lied, — he didn't even leave a feather. As 
I remember, the next bird was a black duck. He 
didn't come in, but just manoeuvred around about 
a gunshot and a half off. By one of the most 
unholy shots I ever saw, my cold partner in the 
other end of the skiff let him down ; he fell with a 
broken wing. Wat finished him. There was no 
cessation in the shooting ; we had probably in our 
crippled condition shot away fifty shells apiece, 



Duck-shooting 31 

and I believe could easily have tripled the number 
under ordinary circumstances. But soon came an 
incident which marked a bitter day with a bright 
line, and I see that flock of ducks as I write. 
There were six, and, as out of the storm they came, 
straight for the blind, the brick-colored head of 
the leader and his white back marked their na- 
tionality. They were canvas-back, and what's 
more, our first. The flock turned out of range 
of the stool, but the old drake didn't, he just 
plunged ahead and came right over us about 
forty feet up. I remember gripping the stake 
in front with one hand and just shooting straight 
up in the air; a mighty big splash told some- 
thing had happened. I turned around and saw 
him, a little way off and right side up, but shot 
through the head. This was the finish ; we 
could stick it out no longer. Wat picked up 
the stool ; he had killed six ducks from the shore. 
The total bag was eight ; our clothes were stiff 
with ice. Then comes the remembrance of lying 
on the floor in front of the blazing fire of pine 
knots in William Knox's house. A knock on the 
door, it was Wat. " Have some hot whiskey, sah ? " 
I often think, in looking back on some ducking 
days, that much of the real fascination lies in the 
comfort and warmth that sooner or later relieve 
the misery of wet and cold. 



32 The IVater-fowl Family 

BATTERY SHOOTING 

Battery shooting is practised more or less all 
along the coast and occasionally inland. The 
battery, when well built and equipped, is the 
deadliest of all the different methods of decoy 
shooting. In fact, the destruction of ducks by 
this method has been legislated against in many 
of the resorts for wild fowl, in others limited to 
a certain number of days, and some states permit 
only residents this privilege ; but the same provi- 
dent states allow any one to become a native for 
five dollars — this is true in North Carolina. The 
battery is a cofiin-like box so shaped that it con- 
ceals one or two men when lying at full length ; 
it is provided with head and tail pieces of canvas 
to break the force of the waves, and weighted 
down so the sides are just above the level of the 
water. From this description it can readily be 
seen that moderately calm weather is essential 
for successful shooting. Painted lead color and 
carefully concealed by a hundred or more decoys, 
few ducks, however wild, will distinguish the 
counterfeit if their line of flight is near by. A 
good-sized boat known as the tender is required 
to carry a battery and the necessary stool. This 
lies off at a sufficient distance from the gunner 
to pick up his birds, and otherwise attend to him 
should emergency arise. 



Duck-shooting 33 

Long Island has always been a resort for 
battery shooting, more especially toward the east- 
ern end of Great South Bay. It was here, several 
years ago, a party of us enjoyed a good day's 
shooting. We reached Bellport late in the after- 
noon, and went aboard a small sloop. There was 
a fair wind, and presently we found ourselves 
drifting at a rapid rate toward the outer beach. 
The change from city life to Great South Bay was 
a pleasing one, and as the chill of an October even- 
ing began to be marked on the water by the last 
glittering of sunset, we drew on our coats and 
jerseys. The bay was hardly rufifled by the faint 
breeze, yet the way oyster stakes disappeared be- 
hind indicated that a tide was running with us. 
As the dark line of ocean beach looms up, on all 
sides jutting points of sedge and grass, with out- 
lying marshy islands, bring up thoughts of ducks. 
The keel grates and we anchor. A small boat 
is ready, and an old man pushes us ashore. It 
is only a step to the little weather-beaten shanty 
almost hidden among the dunes, in which a 
single room contains around its walls a tier of 
bunks. In one end a fireplace, blazing with dry 
driftwood, lights everything about. A big bowl 
on the table steams with oyster broth, and Uncle 
Dan can't ladle it out fast enough. Then some 
clam fritters and one cup of coffee all around. 
I think, with all the excitement and expectation 



34 The Water-fowl Family 

for the morning, there wasn't one of us who 
wouldn't have had that evening go on forever; 
but at nine o'clock Uncle Dan quit telling stories, 
and reached up on a shelf for an alarm clock, 
which he wound and set at three. We pushed 
our bench back and unlatched the door. It was 
a bright moonlight night, and the sound of 
pounding surf attracted us; we stood for a few 
minutes on the beach, looking out on the white 
streaks of ocean, when Uncle Dan's voice broke 
the spell, " Get to bed, boys." To turn in under 
these circumstances was an insult to the night, 
but Dan Petty was boss down Bellport way, and 
we turned in ; no one of us slept, not a wink. 
We counted seconds, prayed for the alarm to 
ring, and meanwhile listened to the noises of the 
night. There was the sublime roar of the sea 
and Uncle Dan ; when they came together. Uncle 
Dan drowned out the sea. He snored fast and 
slow, then tunes, and just honked on until three 
A.M. The relief of that alarm ! Before it finished 
ringing, we were all moving around. " Don't 
wake up, boys; you've got one hour's more sleep." 
The longest hour yet, and then a breakfast of 
clam fritters and pancakes. It is a good while 
still before daylight when we start, a mist hangs 
over all around, and just a light breeze from the 
east predicts a good battery day. The sail is 
being hauled and the anchor weighed ; a minute 



Duck-shooting 35 

more and the sloop disappears, leaving me with 
Uncle Dan. "We'll take the single box and go 
to Hospital." 

Hospital Point lay to the east a mile, and we 
started for it in a good-sized punty, towing a single 
battery behind. It was slow going, but in time 
we were there. The only scenery so far was mist. 
We anchored the battery about two hundred 
yards off the point, on a shallow bar. It is 
weighted down close to the level of the water by 
heavy iron decoys ; then we set the stool, a few 
behind, but the large body in front ; and when the 
last decoy is thrown out, standing a gunshot off, 
it is hardly possible to realize we aren't in front 
of a big raft of ducks. " Get in ; you won't wait 
long ; I'll pick up the birds from the point beyond ; 
keep in the box and keep down," and old Dan 
pushed himself out of sight. Left alone by my 
tender, I stretched out, and soon came to the con- 
clusion there are few things harder than a hard- 
wood floor, not a cushion or pillow or anything else, 
and finally I wrapped my coat around a decoy ; 
this serves as a prop and helps a bit. It is still 
foggy, but a light breeze is rolling up the banks 
of mist, and except for this, it is light enough 
to shoot. Now the first birds of the morning 
come in sight, a great mass far out over the bay. 
Flying in undulating line, they appear high over 
the water, and the next minute are out of sight 



36 The IVater-fowl Family 

in a fog bank. A number of little strings follow. 
This keeps up a few minutes, when a splash in 
front causes me to turn — a single old squaw sits 
among the stool, embarrassed and confused; I 
have no use for old squaws, and finally it paddles 
out, leaving with a grunt of disgust. Broadbill 
are leading now just outside, and soon a flock 
of four swerve off and head for the decoys. In 
the light of sunrise they look black and big, — 
right at the edge of the stool, on wings set, they 
slope in, an easy mark ; and as the smoke clears 
only two depart. The reports resounding over 
the bay start a multitude of ducks ; rising high, 
they break up into countless numbers of little 
bunches, always a promising sign. Presently 
eight come in and leave three — two as the flock 
swings in line, the third before they recover. A 
pair and then four more ; broadbill seem every- 
where, and come in thick and fast, so far all from 
the right direction, straight in front. A booming 
far to the east, four guns often at once, marks the 
position of the double battery, and a cloud of 
ducks in sight over the horizon in the same direc- 
tion indicates the others are busy. The pleasant 
feature of my position is that the water is so 
shallow that I can pick up my own birds, and 
soon the limited quarters of the box are filled. 
With the exception of a single red-head, they are 
all broadbill. A large flock in front and I hurry 



Duck-shooting I'j 

back ; in a minute they are all over me ; as I sit 
up ducks rise on all sides, and in the confusion 
depart without a shot. A pair of black duck 
come by the point toward the stool, a rare chance, 
and I move too soon ; the birds were farther off 
than they seemed ; but one, hard hit, turns off to 
the farther point, and I trust him to Dan. The 
steady flight has now decreased ; yet every little 
while ducks hail the stool in twos and threes, and 
there is plenty doing. A long, black line far out 
on the water marks a bed of birds, and toward 
this the smaller bodies lead ; before noon they 
are all assembled and the morning shooting 
ceases. I see Dan Petty shoving along the marsh. 
He has half a dozen birds on the deck of the 
punty, and the grand total is two dozen broad- 
bill, a red-head, and a black duck. Half an hour 
later we all get together aboard the sloop for 
lunch. This particular day's shooting was one 
of my pleasantest experiences in the battery. 
The number of birds killed was small, but they 
came in well, and few shots were missed. 

In battery shooting, birds coming in from 
behind and on the right are very liable to 
escape a right-handed gunner, and if possible 
they should be decoyed from in front and to 
the left. Great South Bay is still famous for 
battery shooting; and, though cruelly shot, big 
bags are now made, but the Long Island sports- 



38 The Heater-fowl Family 

man has long since been obliged to get along 
without the services of Dan Petty. 

BRANT-SHOOTING 

Brant are exclusively a coast bird, and never 
occur inland ; they frequent the larger bays and 
sounds along the coast, but have favorite stopping- 
places on their flight to and fro from the breed- 
ing-grounds in the remotest corners of the north. 
Their spring flight differs somewhat from the 
fall — wintering in the brackish sounds of Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, when the first warm 
winds of March warn them of approaching spring, 
the immense hordes assembled here become rest- 
less, small bands separate, and striking out to sea 
begin their weary flight. From Virginia many 
pass direct to Cape Cod ; some collect for a short 
time in the bays of New Jersey and Long Island. 

Early in March the few brant that have win- 
tered on Cape Cod begin to be augmented by 
relays from the south; these come thick and 
fast, so that by the middle of the month Chatham 
Bay sees them in thousands ; their arrival has 
been prepared for; all of the farther bars have 
been fortified. In every favorite spot along their 
course sink boxes have been placed. Wherever 
a sand bar is exposed at high water it conceals a 
box. These are large enough to hold three men, 
and are supposed to be water-tight, but generally 



Duck-sbooting 39 

require frequent bailing. Every care is taken of 
the sink box ; at low tide wheelbarrows of sand 
and gravel are dumped around its edges to fill 
in the spaces washed away; sacks of sand are 
often stacked around it to serve as a solid 
foundation ; gradually in this way a bar is formed 
which slopes up to the level of the box. This is 
surrounded by a large number of stool, a hun- 
dred or more, to which are added a few live birds, 
tied out in conspicuous places and generally con- 
nected by a string with the blind, so if circum- 
stances require they can be forced to perform. 
At Cape Cod now large numbers of stool are 
very important, and live birds are absolutely 
essential. 

As to the brant, constant persecution has made 
them, of all birds, wary, as wise perhaps as geese. 
They avoid the bars and blinds in spite of all in- 
ducements, and keeping together in vast throngs 
lay their course over open water. Many feed on 
the flats, dipping their necks down in the shallow 
water, but never diving ; and hence their feeding 
depth is marked by their length. With the rising 
tide the birds are drifted from the flats and gradu- 
ally float toward the shore, all in one vast aggre- 
gation. This is a critical time. The three men 
in the sink box lie low. Slowly and surely ap- 
proach the mass of birds ; the water is black with 
them. Constant discordant notes from the assem- 



40 The PVater-fowl Family 

bly, honks of satisfaction, honks of suspicion, yet 
not a bird leaves. The closer they get to the 
sand bar where a sizable flock rests uncon- 
cerned, and a few live decoys every now and 
then flap their wings, the more suspicious they 
become. A few separate from the main throng 
and swim toward the decoys. With the utmost 
manoeuvring and good luck, this flock of six is 
brought within range. The three gunners who 
have been twisted up in bow-knots for an hour 
get untied and let go. Brant have the habit, 
possessed by some other birds, of getting close 
together when they are startled, and the first two 
shots, if well placed, have probably attended to 
half the flock, and it is fair to presume the other 
half don't stand much chance with two whole 
guns left. With the reports there is such a 
splashing and commotion that Chatham Bay 
hasn't seen since the last high tide, and several 
acres of brant start out for safer quarters. This 
is the end for the present tide, and nowadays 
considerably more than the average end. On 
some few occasions, however, conditions favor 
the sportsman. Wind and heavy weather inter- 
fere with the regular brant programme. The 
birds, at the first indication of rising tide, become 
uneasy and restless ; small numbers separate and 
little strings of four to ten lead up the bay. This 
is a day of days — they come to the blind, the 



Duck-shooting 41 

wavy line circles in over the decoys, hovers, and 
lights. Very few of the smaller flocks depart, 
three out of four, three straight, three out of five 
— it doesn't take long to run up a score. For a 
short time the flight is thick and fast, the birds 
pile in, but with high water comes a let-up. 
There are instances of sixty birds being killed 
in this way from a single box at one tide ; but the 
average at the branting shanties, during the 
season now, is probably nearer nothing than six. 

BRANT-SHOOTING IN VIRGINIA 

Along the Virginia coast, reaching south to 
South Carolina, are a series of shallow bays, sepa- 
rated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land, 
their shores lined with marshes and marshy 
islands. Here is the winter home of the brant. 
The first flocks arrive early in November, and by 
December the large body has accumulated on the 
first resting-place since leaving the Arctic shores. 
At first the birds keep pretty much to the open 
channel and deeper portions of the bay ; remain- 
ing in huge masses, they move to and fro from 
the feeding-grounds as the tide affords oppor- 
tunity. These flats are covered in many places 
by patches of thin eel-grass, and this is their food. 
As the brant does not dive, it is evident low 
water is essential for its feeding. Long before 
the arrival, their coming has been anticipated. 



42 The M^ater-fowl Family 

About all the favorite bars and flats brush blinds 
have been built. These are composed of green 
cedar tops staked out early in the fall, forming 
a sufficient cover for a good-sized flat-bottom boat. 
At high water many of the blinds are entirely 
submerged, while when the tide is out they are 
exposed for a distance of four or five feet. With 
early winter come the first opportunities for gun- 
ning. For weeks the birds have been watched 
for the right chance, and now it is at hand. The 
weather for the past few days has been threaten- 
ing, stormy, and rough. Finally a brisk breeze 
from the east promises the first good day. A flat- 
bottomed sloop lies anchored off one of the flats. 
Tied to her stern are two small dinks, stacked 
high with stool. For a week brant have been 
leading up the bay to this particular shoal, spend- 
ing the time of low water on the bars, then 
moving out in vast rafts to the channel. Persist- 
ing wind, however, has broken up the masses of 
birds, and indications for the morning could 
hardly be improved. In the evening a party of 
gunners gather around the little stove, which 
barely warms the cabin. It is cold, and outside 
the wind howls, while every now and then comes 
a wild sound, a sound that stirs the heart of him 
who has heard it before. At times a perfect din, 
it seems close to the boat, but in reality is a mile 
or more away. Brant are gathered on the bar. 



Duck-shooting 43 

There is little sleeping ; every man waits for the 
morning call. With the first light the disturbers 
of the night are seen, a long black line of bedded 
birds, quietly drifting bayward with the falling 
tide. Now the top of a blind, barely showing 
over the water, seems in their midst. It will be 
two hours yet before the blinds will be sufficiently 
exposed to hide the dinks, and there is plenty of 
time for breakfast. The brush tops grow bigger 
slowly, but finally the two small boats leave the 
sloop. They are broad and low, with bows decked 
over. Each carries about forty stool. A short 
pull over the flats, and every now and then a flock 
of small ducks leave the water, and an occasional 
belated black duck quacks a protest as he wings 
his way from the marsh. A far-off mass of broad- 
bill rises high in the air, marks the horizon with 
a wavy line, then settles down with a roar of wings 
that is heard two miles away. No brant are in 
sight. The blind in front is reached first, and the 
stool are set. The task is a cold one. There is 
little mercy in the weather. But finally they are 
all strung out in a line to the left, so that birds 
stooling will come in against the wind in the best 
position. The dink is shoved into the blind. It 
fits exactly. The tops barely cover the deck. A 
crosspiece of brush hides the stern. The tide is 
still high, and it will be two hours yet before the 
bar is near the surface. The wind comes fresher, 



44 The l4^ater-fowl Family 

with now and then a flurry of snow, which is 
somewhat uncomfortable but welcome. No better 
day was ever made for brant. There is perhaps 
half an hour of shivering expectation, but a cer- 
tainty about it which is more or less warming. 
Finally a black line appears far out in the bay. 
It grows bigger, and there is no mistaking it. 
Now the ronk-r-r-r-ronk is heard. The gunner 
in the stern calls back, and the birds lead toward 
the decoys with excited cries. The wind keeps 
them close to the water, and as they rise it beats 
them back. There must be fifty in the bunch, 
and they are near the stool. Now on set wings 
they sail almost within range, but turn away just 
as the shot seems sure. They circle back of the 
blind ; again set their wings and head for the 
stool ; but, suspicious, sheer off and lead toward 
the farther shore. A second bunch appears from 
the same direction, taking the same course as the 
first. They circle about the decoys, and finally, 
about to turn, an impatient shot rings out, and 
a bird sags away from the flock, hard hit, to fall 
dead a hundred yards away. Soon line after line 
comes into sight from out over the bay, almost in 
military array. The blind now conceals the boat 
well, and the birds do not show quite the same 
hesitation about coming in. Presently twenty or 
more brant gracefully circle the decoys, and then 
sail up to within twenty yards of the guns. They 



Dtwk-shooting 45 

look black and big. Startled they rise together, 
their white breasts showing as they turn. Four 
quick shots ; six fall. It is necessary to retrieve 
them at once if at all, and the boat pushes out. 
It takes fifteen minutes to round up the last, and 
half a dozen chances have been lost ; but the air 
is still full of birds, and a flock comes in as soon 
as the cover is reached. A little to the right, and 
a hard shot, but one splashes and a second leaves 
the others. Four separate from a bunch and 
hover. All are killed. The boat is pushed out 
and back again, and only the birds dead close to 
the blind are picked up. Brant seem everywhere : 
leading in over the decoys, and at the shots turn- 
ing back toward the bay, heading up in the direc- 
tion of the bar, showing first black, then white, as 
the backs or breasts come into view ; keeping up 
all the time an incessant noise. Shooting has 
been fast, and the dink has pushed out a dozen 
times or more for dead birds. A huge mass 
heave in sight — hundreds; there is just time to 
ambush the boat. On they come, straight for 
the stool ; the air is black with them, overhead 
and on all sides. Both guns are emptied, and it 
rains brant. Nine dead, and several wounded 
mark the wake. The flight for a time is con- 
tinual. The minutes out of the blind seem ages, 
but a falling tide saves further destruction, and 
the strings of birds no longer hail. They have 



46 The Water-fowl Family 

bedded far out in the bay, where they will rest in 
peace until the next combination of an east wind 
with an ebb tide. Now low water leaves some of 
the stool almost dry on the bar; it is possible to 
wade out and pick them up. As the dink is 
headed for home, the bow is piled high with 
brant, some forty odd. 

DUCK-SHOOTING AT LONG POINT 

Among the most famous places for wild ducks 
at the present time are the marshes on the north 
shore of Lake Erie, owned by the Long Point 
Company. Long Point consists of a peninsula 
some twenty miles in length and from four to six 
miles wide, making a shallow bay along the lake. 
This narrow strip is almost a continuous marsh, 
broken up everywhere by ponds, its edges bor- 
dered in places with woods. Through the summer 
the marsh is the breeding-ground of many black 
duck and teal. Mallards and shovellers nest there 
more sparingly. It is a satisfactory fact that since 
spring shooting has been abolished the number of 
ducks here has increased surprisingly through the 
summer. Early in the fall, blue-winged teal and 
black duck are most in evidence ; but there are 
also wood-duck in some quantity, although here, 
as elsewhere, the wood-duck has disappeared 
markedly in the past few years. With the first 
cold days of October, the summer residents begin 



Duck-shooting 47 

to be augmented by the relays from the north, and 
by the last of the month the shooting is in its 
prime. A few hours from Buffalo lands the fortu- 
nate member of this club on a dock in a small 
Canadian town, where a steamer is in readiness to 
transport him to the club on the other side. It is 
perhaps eight miles across, and almost from the 
moment of leaving the sights on all sides make 
him yearn for what is to come. Flocks of red- 
head and canvas-back rise from the water ; a raft 
of broadbill leave their resting-place in the bay, to 
pass out of sight in undulating line. Every now 
and then widgeon are in evidence, soaring high as 
they take flight. Ducks on all sides make way 
for the craft, and the distant booming of guns 
away off on the marsh tells what is going on be- 
yond. The little mark on the low line of land, 
which at first appeared a mere dot in the distance, 
has taken on proportions, and after a sail of an 
hour and a half a collection of low buildings ap- 
pears in front of the steamer. In a few minutes 
more she ties to the dock, and bags, baggage, and 
sportsmen are unloaded. It is too late in the after- 
noon to shoot, but there is much in the way of 
preparation. A warden shows the individual his 
cottage, and ushers him into a room warmed by a 
blazing fire. Everything is in readiness. Before 
the trunk comes a " punter " is on hand to help in 
straightening things out. He unpacks the guns 



48 The IVater-fowl Family 

and, after an extra greasing, puts them in the rack, 
unlocks the cartridge room, and fills the "kit" 
with some three hundred shells. The lucky 
sportsman who is to dwell in this spot for two 
weeks gets out of travelling clothes and proceeds 
to ask all manner of questions, which only serve 
to make him more restless and uneasy than he was 
before. He walks out. A wooden walk, built high 
on spiles, leads to the administration building. On 
the marsh side of this platform are some dozen or 
more cottages, all of them built out of the reach of 
high water. In front of each is a boat-house, with 
its duck-house on the side. One or two of these 
well filled bear evidence of good shooting. About 
the dock some hell-divers dip up and down. A 
gunshot off in the creek, a flock of broadbill feed 
undisturbed. The very atmosphere suggests 
ducks. A winding stair leads to a lookout on 
the top of the administration house. From here 
a view is had of portions of the neighboring marsh. 
A large body of water in front is the Island Pond. 
Even to the naked eye flocks of duck are apparent 
on the water. With glasses it seems to be all 
dotted over, though most of the ducks turn out to 
be mud-hens. Against the farther edge is a line 
of birds easily made out ; their light backs mark 
them as canvas-back, and in the light of sunset 
they shine. With the last rays of day the new 
arrival to this duck paradise looks out on the 



Diwk-shooting 49 

marshes and ponds, and keeps looking. There 
is nothing now until dinner. At seven the bell 
rings, and he finds himself face to face with a 
venison steak and a roasted black duck. A white 
pintail and a white muskrat are among the inter- 
esting adornments on the wall of the dining room. 
Two pair of deer antlers, locked as they fell, hang 
in the hall. Records of duck-shooting in muzzle- 
loader times are on file, and, strange to say, many 
of the recent ones are better. 

With the morning comes a clear, cold day and 
a northwest wind. Club rules prohibit the dis- 
turbing of the marsh before 9 a.m., so there is 
plenty of time. Occasional flocks of black duck 
and teal rise up from the ponds in sight of the 
house, and settle down again just beyond. The 
punter is getting ready. He picks out some thirty 
or more decoys, mostly black duck and mallard, 
throws an armful of dry grass in the boat, brings 
the guns and ammunition, and lastly the lunch 
pail. The craft is a light round-bottomed boat; 
and after the gunner has made himself comfortable 
in the bow, with a push it glides off. Down the 
creek a half mile, and the punt is turned through 
a little cut into the marsh. A number of mud- 
hens have been disturbed, and occasionally black 
duck have jumped from the sedge in range, but 
no shot is allowed en route. The narrow ditch 
broadens into a pond, and hundreds of ducks rise 



50 The IVater-fowl Family 

as the boat appears. Stakes on the other side 
mark the course, and through a continuation of 
ditches and creeks the punter shoves. Ducks are 
everywhere, — jumping before the boat, circling 
about the marsh, starting up other flocks, then 
dropping down, loath to leave their resting-places. 
Now the creek leads into a larger pond, its surface 
marked with patches of marsh grass and wild rice. 
A roar of wings, and a perfect multitude of ducks 
take flight, joined, as they leave the water, by 
smaller flocks. This is Pearson's Pond. At its 
farther edge a small strip of sedge is surrounded 
by quite an area of open water, which, with a 
northwest wind, makes a lee. Here the punter 
sets his decoys, then shoves back into the grass. 
There is no need of a blind. A few quill reeds 
cut and stuck in front of the bow make a complete 
cover. Before everything is ready comes the first 
shot. Four black duck, high up, answer the call, 
and dropping into range circle in against the wind 
with wings set, then jump high in the air as the 
mistake is realized. One drops, the next barrel 
misses. The morning stillness has been broken. 
At the report thousands of ducks rise from the 
ponds and marshes. A gun sounds off to the 
east, and others toward the club, but there is suffi- 
cient to attend to on Pearson's Pond. A flock of 
six, in which a green head marks a mallard, are 
hovering over the stool. The mallard and a black 



-*r ■*»"■*■-. 




RED-HEADS AND CANVAS-BACK 



Duck-shooting 5 1 

duck part company with the rest, and before the 
gun is loaded is a chance at a single duck. A 
dozen more are almost in range. Two cut in, and 
one stays. The flight for a few minutes is steady ; 
then the birds seem to have risen higher, and do 
not decoy as well. Guns on all sides in the marsh 
keep them moving. A flock of something differ- 
ent now flashes by, and a dozen hooded mergansers 
dart over the decoys. A pair of green-winged teal 
light ; and as they stop, a double folds them up. 
Every few minutes black duck, in twos and threes, 
sometimes a small flock, call forth shots. This 
shooting lasts until noon, and then comes a brief 
respite. There is an opportunity to look about. 
Some hundred yards off are the dead birds, drifted 
against the edge of the marsh. There are forty 
odd, and a number of cripples have crawled off; 
not once has the boat been pushed out. Lunch 
seems in order, but it is cut short by another little 
flight. Three or four more teal are bagged. A 
shadow over the decoys, and an eagle swoops, de- 
ceived by the wooden ducks. A scream tells his 
fright, and he lifts himself up out of reach. With 
afternoon comes more shooting, black duck mostly, 
and some teal. One of the last chances is a single 
black duck high up, and going with the wind ; but 
it smashes through the quills at the shot. Sunset 
is near at hand, and Pearson's Pond is about an 
hour from home. The punter takes up. Between 



52 The IVater-fowl Family 

stool and ducks, quarters in the punt are crowded. 
The gunner reaUzes, in addition to the deHghts of 
that day, a lame shoulder and an appetite. Sixty- 
seven birds, among them twenty-six brace of black 
duck, are hung in the duck-house. 

In the past season red-head have figured largely 
in the bags made at Long Point, but the marsh 
ducks generally predominate, and black ducks 
head the list. In one of the larger ponds canvas- 
back are occasional visitors. 

CANVAS-BACK SHOOTING IN ONTARIO 

In the past few years, in certain parts of the 
Great Lake region, canvas-back have appeared in 
considerable numbers, and it is an interesting fact 
that a marked increase of these ducks was noted 
in some localities at a time coincident with their 
disappearance from the Chesapeake. In some of 
the shallow bays of Lake Erie wild celery is 
found, and it is here the birds are most abundant. 
The first flocks of canvas-back appear early in 
October, and keep pretty much to the open water, 
spending most of their time in resting and feed- 
ing, occasionally moving in large bodies. By the 
end of the month all the flocks have congregated, 
and the canvas-back season is at its height. Bat- 
tery shooting is not legal here, and the gunning 
is done almost entirely from skags. A skag is a 
low duck-boat, strongly built, decked over in such 



Duck-shooting 53 

a way that it is well fitted for the rough water 
and sudden squalls that are common in these re- 
gions. Painted water color, the craft is incon- 
spicuous, and a slight ripple makes it still more 
so. It is used in two ways, either anchored within 
range of the decoys or some two hundred yards 
off, to be drifted on to the stool when opportunity 
offers. Early in the season the ducks do not ob- 
ject to the presence of the skag in the decoys, 
and this is generally the first method of shooting. 
But canvas-back quickly become wild and soon 
shy the boat, even when well surrounded with 
stool. Drifting on to the birds, when done as it 
always is by one man, requires no little skill. 
The skag is anchored some distance to the wind- 
ward of the decoys, and a buoy fastened to the 
anchor line. The gunner, provided with a short 
paddle, lies full-length in the boat. The stools 
are so set that there is a small area of open water 
in their midst, and a hundred or more are thrown 
out. Both canvas-back and red-head have the 
habit of swimming together after stooling, and it 
is the theory of gunners, that if open water is left 
in the centre of the mass of decoys the ducks will 
swim into this instead of away from the stool. 
The birds of necessity are allowed to light ; then 
the gunner without raising himself detaches the 
buoy, tips the skag gently by leaning to one side, 
and thus makes a more effectual cover. The 



54 The IVater-fowl Family 

craft is now gently paddled by one hand within 
range. A little breeze facilitates greatly the shoot- 
ing, as it conceals more efficiently the boat, and 
forces the birds to rise toward the gun. The 
gunner is tended by a large boat, which lies off 
to the lee, ready to render quick assistance in 
case of emergency, and to help in picking up 
dead birds. 

This shooting is local, and used principally by 
market gunners ; but in a few instances where 
sportsmen have attempted it, they have been sur- 
prisingly successful. In the bay on Lake Erie, 
where skagging first came under the writer's 
observation, there were two market gunners who 
were specially skilful, and the account given below 
is almost word for word the one given him by a 
gunner who has the reputation of being the best 
shot on the north shore. The total day's bag of 
one hundred and twenty-four canvas-back duck 
was made beyond the slightest doubt. " It was 
late last October. I had been out in a skag for a 
week or more, with poor luck. Birds were plenty, 
but there had been no wind, and the flocks were 
not broken up. Finally, a two days' easterly blow 
set in, and we tried them from the west end of 
the bay, about a mile offshore. Birds had been 
leading to the west the day before. It was about 
sunrise when all the stool were set. I took the 
skag and anchored off to the windward of the 



Duck-shooting 55 

decoys a couple of hundred yards. My brother 
tended the sloop. There was some little sea, and 
a breeze from the west. We put up a big bed of 
canvas-back near the spot, but it was an hour or 
so before any came in. Then a steady flight kept 
up all day, in small flocks of from six to ten. A 
flock of six was the first to come into the stool. 
They dropped in, and didn't seem to want to rise. 
I worked up within forty feet of the bunch, killed 
three on the water and the rest in straight shots, 
with a pump gun. I picked them up and got a 
shot at two before I went to my anchor, dropping 
one. The birds came in like this all the morning, 
and I didn't go down on the decoys once and get 
less than three. Most of them gave me a shot 
on the water. The best scoop I made was on a 
flock of fifteen : only one got off ; eight on the 
water, three as they rose, three more circled 
and came back after I reloaded. It was blowing 
harder all the time, and decoys began to drift. 
About four o'clock the sloop came, and we 
'took up.' 

" There were fifty birds on board and seventy 
odd in the skag, all canvas-back. I didn't shoot 
broadbill, and there were no red-head flying. 
That was the best day last fall, and the best 
score I ever made." 



CHAPTER II 

DUCK-SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 
RIVER SHOOTING 

In many parts of the United States it is pos- 
sible to get good duck-shooting on the rivers. 
This is the case in various parts of the West, and 
especially the South, where sluggish streams wind 
through brush and brake. For this manner of 
ducking, a low flat-bottomed boat is essential, and 
should be made as inconspicuous as possible by 
means of sedge and grass piled in the bow. If 
managed by a single gunner, he must be an ex- 
pert sculler. Usually one man paddles another, 
keeping the craft close to the shore, noiselessly 
rounding a bend within easy range of the adjacent 
bank. With loud quacking, the startled birds 
spring into the air from a wooded pool, and a 
flock of mallard offers an easy mark. An old 
green-head falls at the first shot, and his compan- 
ions, soaring high, wend their way down-stream. 
Every little while, from the sloughs alongshore, 
where grass and thick weeds afford cover and a 
feeding-place, ducks jump within range. They 
are mostly mallard, though wood-duck and teal are 

s6 



Duck-shooting 57 

not wanting. Birds, under these circumstances, 
are frequently surprised by rounding quick turns 
in the river; the shooting generally is easy. Some- 
times the size of the stream is such that the gun- 
ner can walk through the cover lining the sides 
and shoot as the ducks rise. In the spring of 
the year vast tracts of woodland along the larger 
rivers of the West are flooded, and immense num- 
bers of mallard, and to a less extent the other 
varieties of ducks, frequent the inundated woods. 
Under these circumstances a few decoys help out 
the shooting. 

In northern Mexico, last year, I enjoyed a 
novel day's duck-shooting. We started on horse- 
back, in the early morning, from Laguna, with a 
Mexican boy to care for the horses. Here the 
country is one vast arid plain, a continuation of 
the desert plateau of Arizona and New Mexico. 
For nine months of the year rain is unknown, 
and in the spring the only water is found in the 
shallow mesa lakes, or, rarely, in arroyos, which 
are river beds cut deep in the soil by the heavy 
rains of the summer, and at this time well filled 
with water. At the cessation of the rainy season 
these rivers quickly run dry, leaving a deep 
channel. In the few places where water remains 
in these arroyos, it is resorted to by hundreds of 
ducks. The river near Laguna, in the spring of 
the year, is a mere ditch, in places almost dry. 



58 The PVater-fowl Family 

yet ducks were in plenty. Occasionally a stagnant 
pool broadened out the banks; these were per- 
haps twenty feet high, so steep and narrow it was 
possible to walk a few feet from the edge without 
even seeing the water below. We rode along the 
plain, yellow with dry, wavy grass, dotted as far 
as the eye could reach with cattle, for the cattle, 
like all other living things, are concentrated near 
water. It was a still, bright day, characteristic of 
a desert country. For a short distance we trav- 
elled away from the stream, expecting to follow it 
a little farther from the ranch. Almost before we 
had realized it was near, a flock of gadwall rose 
up, as it were, out of the earth. Quickly handing 
over the horses to the Mexican, we crept along 
the bank; a quack just ahead and beneath us, and 
in another minute we found him, an old green- 
head, in a puddle all by himself, right under our 
feet. He sprang into the air, and startled as he 
did so a flock of gadwall. They offered a perfect 
shot ; two dropped, and instantly ducks rose out 
of the ground in scores ; teal, gadwall, shovellers, 
a few sprigs, and mallard. For a short time the 
shooting was fast, birds passing overhead back 
and forth, following the course of the arroyo, 
suddenly dropping down out of sight far ahead. 
Between us we picked up perhaps a dozen, gad- 
wall and teal mostly, occasionally a sprigtail and 
a widgeon ; then we mounted and rode on, strik- 



Duck-sbooting 59 

ing the arroyo half a mile beyond. In a short 
time our capacity for ducks was exhausted; we 
had almost more than we could carry on horse- 
back, and we turned toward home. It was very 
interesting to follow along this weird place, and 
see how close we could get to unsuspecting birds. 
In one instance I watched a flock of twenty or 
thirty gadwall and teal nearly half an hour, hardly 
more than thirty feet from the spot where I lay in 
the grass, peering over the bank. They preened 
themselves, unsuspecting, and dabbled in the shal- 
low water, occasionally uttering contented notes, 
but, at the slightest motion, were alert and ready 
to spring. In another instance I noticed a pair of 
ruddy ducks in a small pool scarcely a foot in 
depth. It seemed to be a good chance to force 
a diver to his wings, and I ran down the steep 
bank almost on to them. They just settled out 
of sight in the water, and never appeared. How 
they ever dived out of that puddle is beyond my 
understanding, and my esteem for a ruddy duck's 
sleight of diving was greater than ever. It was 
early afternoon when we wended our way back to 
the ranch, where a pitcher of coffee and a plate 
of tortillas went but a little way toward appeasing 
a Mexican appetite. 



6o The JVater-fowl Family 



ICE-HOLE SHOOTING 

In various parts of our country, with the first 
approach of winter, many wild fowl are loath to 
leave, and remain until the last open water freezes. 
Throughout the West the larger lakes and rivers 
afford shooting from ice-holes, — along the coasts, 
the bays, and harbors. There is a degree of dis- 
comfort, not to say actual danger, about this 
shooting that does not commend itself to the 
sportsmen as highly as other methods. Then 
too, birds, if long limited to these small areas of 
open water, grow thin and poor ; but a duck is a 
duck, and probably this fact has not deterred 
many gunners from taking advantage of any 
helplessness. While all varieties of ducks fre- 
quent open water under these circumstances, the 
species most commonly associated with freezing 
weather are the golden-eye ; they thrive and 
keep in good condition to the last. On an occa- 
sion I saw a single golden-eye in a small ice- 
hole, under one of the bridges near New Haven ; 
the bird flew as we drove over, but at once 
returned, a fact that goes to show the tenacity of 
birds for these places when forced by circum- 
stances. 

My own experience in ice shooting has been 
limited. In the severe winter of four years ago the 
harbors all along Long Island Sound were frozen 



Diick-shooting 6i 

over and where the current was strong, in many 
instances, areas of open water existed. One of 
these holes, several acres in size, was frequented 
by a large number of broadbill, and here on several 
occasions I had excellent shooting. It is always 
important, in this method of gunning, not to fire 
into the birds when all are bedded together on 
the water. The large flocks should be allowed to 
leave, when they quickly return in small bunches, 
and if care is used in resting the birds, the shoot- 
ing will continue good. When offshore, the 
holes must be approached with care ; and for this 
purpose white boats are used. These should be 
decked over and light. Often a sled is useful in 
carrying them over the ice. The blind is readily 
made of ice and snow, and a few decoys suffice. 
There is always a chance of accident from break- 
ing through treacherous ice, and the surroundings 
are not the most desirable for calamities of this 
sort. 

SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 

Sea-duck shooting is hardly to be compared 
for sport with other kinds of duck-hunting, and 
yet on the New England coast the scoters and 
old squaws are regularly killed, and to the natives 
along the shore have a certain amount of value. 
They are not edible in the market sense, but 
many a Connecticut longshoreman is glad of 
their meat and the feathers are regularly saved., 



62 The Heater-fowl Family 

Frequenting, as they do, the deep water and rocky 
shores, the shooting differs to a certain extent 
from other ducking methods. Points and rocky 
islands near their feeding-grounds are often used 
to decoy them from. As a rule they readily stool, 
but when much shot can become as wary as many 
other ducks. Any dark decoys suffice for scoters ; 
they come to the wooden ducks in rather an awk- 
ward way, often so low down as to plunge into 
the water before the gunner fires. On seeing the 
mistake the birds swim off, or sometimes dive, 
taking wing when at a safe distance. Old 
squaws are faster, and afford better shooting. 
The general disposition of all these ducks, to fly 
low, is made the most of in line shooting. This 
is employed regularly on Long Island Sound. 
Anywhere from ten to twenty gunners anchor 
their boats in a line at intervals of a hundred 
yards or more across some harbor or off a far 
point. The birds do not change their course, but 
keep straight over the boats, coming with all 
available speed, often bunching up as the gun 
is raised. Under favorable circumstances the 
shooting is thick and fast, and reminds one of a 
bombardment, the heavy guns resounding and 
reverberating along the shores for miles. The 
ducks usually shot in this way are the several 
varieties of scoters, — coots as they are called lo- 
cally, — old squaws, and in some places eiders (the 




ALONG THE MARSH 



Diick-sbooting 63 

eider is not uncommon off Massachusetts), rarely 
broadbill and the wilder ducks. Very often 
amusing instances happen in line shooting; a 
bird, bewildered by successive shots, sometimes 
passes over the whole line of boats, and is missed 
in turn by one after the other. In one instance 
I saw a white-winged scoter reach the end man, 
after having called forth a shot from every boat ; 
but at the last crack the bird doubled up and the 
gunner let out a yell of triumph which was short- 
lived, for the falling bird struck him square in the 
stomach and came near putting him out for good 
and all. It was a case of an unexpected double. 
This shooting is much facilitated by attaching 
the anchor to a buoy, and tying the boat to this, 
thus avoiding lifting the anchor whenever a bird 
is to be picked up. On the Connecticut shore of 
the Sound, the Thimble Islands used to be, and are 
at present, a favorite spot for line shooting, and 
many a ducking party has the old Money Island 
hotel entertained. 

THE DECREASE OF WILD FOWL 

Between 1870 and 1875 fifteen thousand ducks 
were not uncommonly killed on Chesapeake Bay 
in a single day. Here in February and March it 
was possible to see red-heads and canvas-backs in 
rafts miles long, containing countless thousands 
of birds. In the old days, Baltimore was the 



64 The IVater-fowl Family 

headquarters for most of the sportsmen, and the 
famous locations for shooting were Carroll's Island, 
Spesutia Island, Maxwell's Point, and Benjies. 
Formerly the eastern shores of Chesapeake Bay, 
from the Sassafras River, through Pocomoke 
Sound, and down the Bay, and on the western 
side from Baltimore to the James River, were 
favorite resorts. What stories of ducks and 
duck-shooting could these places tell ! Wild fowl 
up to i860 had not been much hunted in this 
country, and during the Civil War were unmo- 
lested. From 1865 began their destruction, which 
has been steadily increasing since, with a result 
inevitable. In twenty-five years the greatest nat- 
ural home in the world for wild ducks has been 
nearly devastated of its tenants. The past few 
years have shown some betterment in the shoot- 
ing there, and, with care, it may still improve, but 
the vast hordes of the past will not return. Inland 
bodies of water, extending through the Middle 
West to the mountains, tell the same story. What 
sights were once seen on the sloughs of Indiana, 
Illinois, and Minnesota! Now, in many places, 
the numbers left, an insignificant remnant, bear 
evidence of the past. After the large game had 
been destroyed and driven off, the small game 
was taken up, and the past twenty years have 
decimated the wild fowl almost be3^ond concep- 
tion. Practically unprotected, shot from their first 



Duck-shooting 65 

coming in the fall to the end of their stay in the 
spring, the result has been inevitable. Many of 
the most famous resorts are devastated, and the 
existing haunts exposed to such incessant perse- 
cution that local extinction is threatened unless 
prompt measures of relief are afforded. 

Excessive shooting can be assigned as the 
prime cause of destruction, and under this head 
comes, first of all, spring shooting. Until recently, 
throughout all of our Western states and adjacent 
Canada, wild fowl have been shot until May. At 
this time they are preparing to breed, some actu- 
ally nesting, and it can be readily seen that de- 
struction under such circumstances bears directly 
on future supply. Birds at this time are usually 
thin and hardly fit for the table, yet the market 
gunner gets his price, and the ruthless sportsman 
runs up his score. Until within the past few 
years the suggestion of abolishing spring shooting 
has been received with considerable opposition ; 
it was argued that over a large tract of country 
the only shooting was at this time. The claim 
was also made, and more reasonably, that unless 
spring shooting was forbidden in all Western 
states, and along the entire migratory course, 
legislation in a single state would have but little 
or no result. The effect of stopping spring shoot- 
ing, even in isolated states, has been attended 
with such satisfactory improvement in the fall 



66 The Water-fowl Family 

shooting, that sportsmen are now universally con- 
vinced of the absolute necessity of protecting our 
water-fowl at this season. In the United States, 
the Western states along the northern border 
are all breeding-grounds for water-fowl, and it 
is here protection is most essential. In North 
Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin legislation 
prohibiting spring shooting has been attended 
with remarkable results in the comparatively short 
period of its existence, and, in many instances, 
market gunners admit the benefit. In the upper 
peninsula of Michigan the open season closes 
January 15 ; in Minnesota, January i ; in Wiscon- 
sin and North Dakota, January i ; in Idaho, 
March i; in Ontario, December 15; Newfound- 
land, January 1 2 ; California, North Carolina, 
British Columbia, and Nova Scotia have a close 
season in March. In most of the other states 
the close season begins later. In Ontario, a few 
years since, the marshes were almost devoid of 
breeding ducks. At the present time thousands 
of black duck, mallard, and teal are seen nesting. 
This same statement can be easily true elsewhere. 
Recently duck-shooting in Connecticut has been 
prohibited after April i. The law has been in 
force for one year. Last spring, in many of the 
harbors of Long Island Sound, there were more 
ducks than had been seen in years, a fact specially 
true of the broadbill. There is a strong objection 



Duck-shooting 67 

in many of the Southern states against abolishing 
spring shooting. Its advocates claim that at the 
time of leaving the bays and rivers of the South, 
wild fowl are still in flocks and unmated; that 
they are far from the breeding-grounds. As a 
matter of fact, this protection is more needed in 
the South than in the North. In the early spring 
the vast hordes of migratory wild fowl are south, 
not north. In many instances they are mated, 
though still in flocks. If there is any reason for 
protecting wild fowl in the North in April, the 
same reason holds good for their protection in the 
South during March. Another fact, that perhaps 
many of our sportsmen do not appreciate, is that 
numbers of our water-fowl actually breed in the 
South. The southern variety of black duck, the 
blue-winged teal, and the mallard, all nest farther 
south than has been supposed. It is the duty of 
every man interested in sporting to use his influ- 
ence against spring shooting. The effect on our 
wild fowl, of a universal protection at this time 
throughout the United States, would be surprising 
even in the following fall; if this could once be 
realized, there would be few sportsmen and market 
gunners who would not sanction it, even from 
selfish motives. 

Another cause of the destruction of our water- 
fowl, that can be to a certain extent corrected, is 
too large bags by sportsmen. It is only on occa- 



68 The PVater-fowl Family 

sions, in many places, that circumstances favor 
the gunner, and many a conscientious man feels he 
is justified in taking every advantage. But if our 
wild ducks are to be preserved, even in present 
numbers, self-sacrifice is necessary. In North 
Dakota a law restricting each man's portion to 
twenty-five birds has gone a long way to prevent 
the wanton destruction of game. Rules restrict- 
ing the quantity of game killed have long been 
in use by many clubs with most excellent results, 
and state legislation to this same effect, though 
perhaps difficult to enforce, would undoubtedly be 
of benefit. 

Market gunning has been responsible in many 
instances for utter destruction of game, and the 
high prices paid in the East for varieties of ducks 
most excellent for the table have made it possible 
for the pot-hunter to thrive. The result has been 
a foregone conclusion, and the most famous resorts 
along the Atlantic Coast have been stripped of 
their wild fowl. With market gunning go hand 
in hand all the illegal methods of killing, — shoot- 
ing at night, the use of large-bore guns, in short, 
any possible means to destroy game. With the 
present facilities for cold storage, the market ca- 
pacity is unlimited ; this evil, however, could be 
effectually obviated, and by preventing the sale 
and storing of wild fowl, probably more would be 
done toward actual protection than by any other 



Duck-sbooting 69 

means. In many of our states the exportation of 
game has been prohibited for several years, and 
for this law North Dakota is again conspicuous. 
The effect has been that the largest area in the 
United States for small game has been saved from 
market gunning. Exportation laws are readily 
enforced along all railroad lines, and are a prac- 
tical means of protection. 

Excessive shooting has been checked in sections 
of the South by establishing close days, — three 
days of the week have been set apart as days of 
rest for wild fowl, with the result that better shoot- 
ing is had in the four open days than was previ- 
ously had in six. The control of shooting lands 
by clubs has also had a protective influence in 
many localities. Strict club rules, judiciously en- 
forced, have gone far toward bettering existing 
conditions; in this way night gunning has been 
almost done away with in sections of the South. 
Too destructive methods of shooting should' be 
legislated against, especially battery shooting, and 
any means by which large flocks of wild fowl can 
be approached while resting. The repeating shot- 
gun comes under this head. The protection of 
parks, extended in some instances to large game, 
is just as efficient in saving the destruction of 
birds. The great benefit of the Yellowstone Park 
stands out as a conspicuous example of this; all 
of the ponds and sloughs here are occupied by 



70 The Heater-fowl Family 

thousands of breeding wild fowl, as tame in many 
instances as domestic ducks and geese. These 
birds are as quick to appreciate protection as large 
animals. In many of the zoological gardens 
abroad wild fowl are regular migrants, and this 
disposition has been noticed to a small extent in 
the New York zoological gardens, where wild 
ducks have often remained for some time in the 
companionship of captive relatives. No man can 
see this trait of our wild fowl — to make the most 
of all he offers them in the way of preservation — 
without being impressed. 

To sum up, the imperative need for wild-fowl 
protection at the present time is a universal law 
throughout the United States against spring shoot- 
ing. Game should be exposed for sale in markets 
through short seasons, if at all ; storing of game 
should be absolutely prohibited; state exporta- 
tion should be prevented ; and there should be an 
individual limit to the number killed. 

THE RIVER-DUCKS 

(^Anatidce) 

When the sportsman thinks of "ducking," 
some of the birds of this group are sure to pass 
before his mind, for to it belong the mallard, 
black duck, baldpate, teal, etc. It is the largest 
family of the Anatidcs, containing about fifty 
species, which are scattered over most of the 



Duck-shooting 71 

world, though more abundant in the northern 
hemisphere. They differ from the mergansers 
in having broad and flat bills with a series of 
transverse grooves, instead of "teeth," on the cut- 
ting surfaces : these grooves are of service in 
straining out the water from the grasses and 
other vegetable food which they procure when 
swimming. The absence of a membranous lobe 
on the hind toe separates them from the sea- 
ducks and the mergansers, and their feet and 
palmations are smaller than those of the former. 
Their necks are rather short, and, as a rule, the 
heads of the adult males without a crest. In many 
of the species the males have a very elegant 
plumage, as the wood-duck, differing from the 
plainer females, and most have a bright metallic 
patch of feathers on the wing. Frequently the 
male has a summer moult, in which he assumes 
a dull plumage, much resembling that of the 
female. This lasts while the wing feathers are 
growing, and is probably a great protection to 
him during the days or weeks that he cannot fly ; 
but early in the autumn he acquires again his 
striking dress. 

The flight of all is swift and strong, and has 
been thought in some species to reach a hundred 
and fifty miles an hour. They spring from the 
water at a bound, and are instantly under way. 
Frequenting by preference fresh water, the river- 



72 The IVater-fowl Family 

ducks are not uncommon on the bays of the 
coast in the migrations and in winter, usually in 
small flocks, and associating to some extent with 
the sea-ducks. They feed in shallow water, not 
diving, but thrusting their head and neck to the 
bottom, and tipping up the body, while they tear 
off the stems of the water plants which are their 
chief subsistence. Their flesh is sweet and pala- 
table almost without exception, although if they 
are forced to a diet consisting largely of shellfish 
and Crustacea, it may become rank. The females 
perform all the duties of incubation and care for 
the young when they are hatched, but in many 
species the male takes much interest in his family. 
Some of the most interesting and beautiful mem- 
bers of the water-fowl belong in this group, such 
as the mandarin duck of Asia, the shoveller, with 
a long and spoon-shaped bill with the lateral 
strainers remarkably developed, and the pintail, 
with the middle tail feathers very long. Most 
breed on the ground near the water, but some, as 
the wood-duck, nest in hollow trees, and the true 
sheldrakes in holes in banks. This latter fact is 
taken advantage of by the inhabitants of parts of 
Denmark, who dig artificial burrows for the shel- 
drakes, sometimes with several laying compart- 
ments radiating from a single entrance. Each 
breeding-chamber is covered with a tightly fitting 
piece of sod, and through this opening the fresh 



Duck-shooting "jt, 

eggs are collected daily, six being left for the bird 
to hatch, and once the downy nest itself is taken. 
The muscovy duck {Cairina moschatd), a large 
and handsome species which inhabits tropical 
America, has been recorded from Louisiana and 
Indiana, but as it is frequently kept in captivity, 
mating with the domestic ducks, it is believed 
that these specimens are not wild birds. The 
male is a large bird, measuring nearly three feet 
in length, and the female two feet. On the sides 
of the forehead of the male are rose-red carun- 
cles ; the head, neck, and lower parts are brownish 
black, the upper parts metallic blackish green 
glossed with purple, and the wing-coverts white. 
The female has a much duller plumage, entirely 
brownish black, except for a white feather or so 
on the wing-coverts and a greenish metallic lustre 
to the upper parts. 

MALLARD 

(Anas boschas) 

Adult male — In fall, winter, and spring, head and neck, soft, brilliant, 
metallic green, showing purple and bronze reflections in differ- 
ent lights ; a ring of pure white around lower neck, interrupted 
on the nape ; upper breast, dark chestnut-brown ; wing-coverts, 
uniform brownish gray, the last row tipped with black and with 
a subterminal bar of white ; speculum, metallic violet, with a 
subterminal bar of black and a terminal one of white ; primaries, 
plain dark gray ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and crissum, black, 
with soft greenish reflections ; tail, white, feathers grayish in 
the centre, two middle feathers, black, slightly recurved, the two 
longer upper coverts greatly recurved. Bill, ohve-yellow ; nail, 



74 The IVater-fowl Family 

black ; iris, hazel-brown ; legs and feet vary from reddish orange 
to yellow. 

Measnre?nents — Length, 24 inches ; wing, 12 inches; culmen, 2.20 
inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

The adult male in summer acquires a plumage closely re- 
sembling the female, but of a darker cast. This is assumed 
in June. In August the winter dress begins to be resumed, and 
by October the plumage is usually full. 

Adult female — Above, dusky brown, the feathers edged with 
ochraceous, beneath, the general color is paler, the feathers 
having dark centres, giving a mottled or streaked appearance ; 
wing, similar to male. Bill, greenish yellow, with black mark- 
ings ; legs and feet, yellowish ; iris, hazel. 

Measurements — Length, 23 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; culmen, 
2.25 inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Downy young — Above, deep olive, marked by two pairs of light 
spots, the first pair on the back just behind the wing, the second 
at base of tail and a light superciliary stripe on the sides of fore- 
head, head, and nape ; dark line from bill through eye ; entire 
under parts, yellowish buff. 

Eggs — Eight to thirteen in number; olive-buflf or greenish buflf; 
measure, 2.20 by 1.70 inches. 

Habitat — The northern portions of the northern hemisphere, breed- 
ing in Europe as far south as the Rhone Delta. Breeds in 
North America from Pennsylvania rarely, Ohio, Indiana, pos- 
sibly Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, possibly Arizona 
and Lower California, and California, north to the Pribilof 
Islands, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, the Mackenzie Delta, and east 
to Fort Anderson, Hudson Bay, Quebec, and Ontario, and in 
Greenland. Not found in Cumberland, nor apparently in Lab- 
rador, and rare in migration in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, and the Atlantic Coast north of Maryland. 
Winters in southern Greenland and from Maine rarely, Mary- 
land regularly, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, rarely Min- 
nesota and South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, British Columbia 
and the Aleutian Islands, south to the West Indies and Central 
America. Occurs also in Bermuda and Hawaii. 



Duck-shooting 75 

The mallard, of all our ducks, is the most liable 
to hybridism; a few of the more interesting 
hybrids, described in " Baird, Brewer, and Ridge- 
way," are quoted here : — 

1. Hybrids with the muscovy duck. These 
are produced in domestication; the offspring seems 
to acquire the tendencies of the wild bird, and 
escapes. It has the broad speculum and broad 
tail of the muscovy without the recurved feathers 
of the mallard. Head and upper half of neck 
black with green reflections, white on throat and 
under the eyes, breast and sides chestnut, rest of 
lower parts white. Flanks slate, speculum green, 
feet orange. Measurements: wing 13.20, culmen 
2.30, tarsus 2.20. 

2. Hybrids with the pintail. No. 6668, Na- 
tional Museum. This specimen in form and 
coloration throughout is a perfect combination of 
both species. The upper tail-coverts are purplish 
black, the two middle tail feathers are elongated 
half as much as in Dafila acuta, and curled half 
as tightly as in Anas boschas. Bill, dark lead 
color; feet, reddish; wing 11 inches, culmen 2.20, 
tarsus 1.55. 

3. Hybrids with the black duck. The specimen 
is an adult male. Sides and back of head brilliant 
green, breast strongly tinged with chestnut, the 
lateral, upper, and terminal lower tail-coverts are 
black with violet reflections ; middle tail feathers 



76 The PVater-fowl Family 

recurved. Length 23.50, wing 10.75, culmen 2.05. 
Iris brown, feet dull orange. 

I once shot a black duck in which the head was 
marked with a few green feathers, the plumage 
otherwise resembling Anas obscura. These 
hybrids with the black duck are more frequent 
than supposed. 

No duck has a wider geographical range than 
the mallard. In the Old World it is found through- 
out Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, breeding 
from Spain to Lapland and Siberia; in North 
America, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic 
Sea and from coast to coast. Generally abundant 
throughout the United States, it is uncommon 
along the Atlantic Coast, north of the Chesa- 
peake. The mallard breeds sparingly through 
most of its range, abundantly in the United 
States from the northern border north; in the 
Rocky Mountains, from Montana to Alaska; in 
the interior, from Dakota and Manitoba along the 
watercourses to Hudson Bay; in the country 
west from Hudson Bay and north to the Arctic 
sea. 

The marshy ponds and sloughs of the prairie 
are the nesting-grounds of vast numbers. The 
nest is placed among the rushes on the ground, 
and is composed of grass and weeds, lined with 
feathers. The eggs number from twelve to fif- 
teen, and are covered with down. In the far 



Duck-shooting ^^ 

North the nest is frequently several rods from 
water, usually among trees or scrub brush ; in 
rare instances the bird has resorted to a deserted 
hawk's or crow's nest. 

During the period of incubation the duck takes 
full charge, the males congregating by themselves. 
She is a close sitter, and can sometimes be lifted 
from her nest. If disturbed, the old bird often 
feigns wounded. The ducklings take readily to 
the water, diving and hiding at the suspicion of 
danger. By the latter part of August they are 
fledged, and at this time are killed in large num- 
bers by the natives. 

August and September, 1894, were spent by the 
writer in North Dakota. Early in September, 
mallards and shovellers were the most abundant 
ducks, but among all the mallards killed there was 
not a single green-head, nor was one seen until 
September 20, when a drake was shot in about 
half-full plumage. By the first week in October 
the birds are well established in their fall homes. 
The extensive marshes of our Western states are 
their favorite resorts in the early fall, and on their 
first arrival many are killed from boats pushed 
through the rushes, or from passes along their 
line of flight. Continuous persecution soon 
makes them wild, and we find them keeping to 
the open water during the day, coming at night 
to the marshes to feed. In certain localities the 



y8 The IVater-fowl Family 

mallard frequents the corn-fields and stubbles. 
They are, to a large degree, nocturnal in their 
habits, and depend on their sense of touch and 
smell in feeding. When hunting a few years 
since on Currituck Sound, the cunning of the 
mallards especially impressed me. Sunset closes 
the gunner's day; almost immediately the first 
flocks of mallard come ; the marshes, all day long 
devoid of ducks, now hear their whistling wings. 
Birds that have alighted call to those in the air, 
and their quacking is almost a din. At the first 
streak of dawn they are gone. They know the 
close days as well as the hunter. In some of the 
ponds near the club-house, shooting was not 
allowed. They frequented these spots with as 
little concern as the flock of decoys kept there. 
Few birds come to stool any better when once 
they start; often the live decoys see them first, 
and the far-off flock respond to the call. If high 
in air they drop and circle within range, but, quick 
to notice danger, at the slightest movement from 
the blind they spring into the air with a frightened 
quack and are off. The rice fields of the South 
are favorite haunts, and on this diet or wild celery 
the flesh is unsurpassed. In parts of the West 
along the salmon rivers, mallards sometimes feed 
on the maggots infesting the dead fish, and become 
intolerably rank. On the northeastern coast of 
the United States and Canada the bird is rare, 



Duck-shooting 79 

on Long Island occasionally occurring among 
flocks of black duck. In Connecticut it is found 
regularly, but it is far from common. Several 
instances of its occurrence in the last few years 
have been observed by the writer. Rarely they 
have been killed offshore on Lons^ Island Sound. 
From time immemorial the mallard, of all the wild 
ducks, has been most readily domesticated, prob- 
ably because of its general distribution in all 
countries and climates, and has been known to 
live twenty-two years in captivity. 

BLACK DUCK 

(^Anas obscurd) 

Adult male — Top of head, black, narrowly edged with buff, remainder 
of head and neck, buff, streaked with brown ; throat and chin, im- 
maculate buif ; rest of plumage, dusky, paler beneath ; all the 
feathers, except those on lower back and rump, edged with light 
brown ; speculum, metallic blue, sometimes green, edged with 
black ; lower wing-coverts, white ; bill, yellowish green or olive ; 
nail, black ; legs and feet, olivaceous brown ; webs, dusky ; iris, 
brown. 

Measurements —'L&x\g\}a, 22 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; culmen, 
2.05 inches; tarsus, 1.60 inches. 

Adult female — Resembles male, but is usually smaller and less 
richly colored. 

Young — Similar to adult, with bill more of a greenish hue and 
streaked with dusky. 

Downy young — Above olive-brown, relieved by six faint markings of 
buflf, one pair on the posterior border of each wing, one on each 
side of back behind wings, one on each side of rump ; top of head 
and back of neck, brown like the back ; under parts, light buff. 

Eggs — Six to twelve in number; pale buff to pale greenish buff; 
measure 2.30 by 1.70 inches. 



8o The Heater-fowl Family 

Habitat — Breeds from the coast of North Carolina (formerly ?) and 
from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana (?), Illinois, and Iowa, north 
to Sable Island, Newfoundland, southern Labrador, Quebec, 
Ontario, and eastern Manitoba. Winters from the coast of 
Massachusetts, western New York (?), Indiana (?), and Ken- 
tucky, south to Florida, the West Indies, Alabama, and Louisiana. 
Recorded from Bermuda and Texas (?), and very doubtfully 
from Utah. Rare west of the Alleghanies. 

This bird is the standard game duck of the 
northeastern United States and Canada, occur- 
ring on all the bodies of water inland and along 
the coast. Exposed on all sides to gunning of 
every description, the black duck thrives, and 
holds its own with a reputation for cunning and 
wisdom unsurpassed. It breeds regularly farther 
south than has been generally supposed. 

Northern New England, New Brunswick, Nova 
Scotia, and eastern Canada north of the St. 
Lawrence are favorite breeding-grounds. It 
nests sparingly in Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and Long Island. For several years the writer 
noticed in early August a brood of young black 
duck on the Quinnipiac River, a short distance 
from New Haven. The nest is composed of 
coarse grass, and is generally situated in a swamp 
or marsh close to the water. From eight to 
twelve eggs are laid. The young are hatched in 
late June, and carefully guarded and concealed by 
the old bird, who keeps them close to the marsh, 
where long grass and weeds afford a ready protec- 



Duck-shooting 8i 

tion. If disturbed under these circumstances, the 
old duck remains perfectly quiet, only quacking 
when she jumps into the air. Left alone, the 
young ducks occasionally betray their presence 
by a frightened peep. The brood rapidly grows 
to full size on a diet of insects, grubs, and various 
water-grasses, and by the latter part of August 
are full grown and able to flap out of the long 
grass. Now they are easily killed, and their flesh 
is most tender and excellent. 

In localities where blueberries grow near the 
water they are a favorite food. On the Magdalen 
Islands the writer has frequently seen black duck 
feeding high up on the hills among the blueberry 
bushes, in company with Hudsonian curlew. The 
families soon congregate, and in the early fall we 
find them in flocks of more than fifty. By the 
middle of October they appear in numbers along 
our coast, frequenting the ponds and rivers a 
short distance inland and the shallow bays, espe- 
cially where there are marshes. They are a wel- 
come sight to every duck-hunter. At first killed 
in some numbers, they soon learn all the gunner's 
craft, during the day keeping to the open water, 
and if in any uncertain place, well guarded by sen- 
tinels ; they spring into the air with loud quack- 
ing at the first suspicion of danger. In places 
where black duck are much hunted, and there are 
few spots where they are not, the birds come to 



82 The Water-fowl Family 

the feeding-grounds on their favorite marshes 
only at night. Here pot-hunters keep watch, 
driving them off, but not frequently killing many. 
An overcast moonlight night offers the best 
opportunity for this illegal shooting, as then the 
birds can be seen at some distance. 

The most popular hunting-grounds for black 
duck are the marshes near the shallow bays and 
larger rivers of the Atlantic Coast, from the St. 
Lawrence to Currituck Sound. The large marshes 
of Lake Erie and Ontario are famous resorts. On 
the bays about the Chesapeake they are most fre- 
quently killed over decoys, placed off the points 
and islands, where rushes and marsh grass afford 
good blinds. If the birds are much shot at, 
live decoys are far the most satisfactory. These 
can be used jointly with the wooden stool, and 
ducks with a disposition to quack should be 
selected. . Heavy weather affords best chance for 
shooting black duck. The birds under these cir- 
cumstances leave the larger bodies of water, and 
lead up under the lee of points close to the 
marshes, keeping continually on the move. No 
wild duck taxes the patience of a gunner more. 
Suspicious and wary, they often circle about the 
stool, lighting beyond them, just out of range, 
watching for the slightest movement, when they 
jump high in the air with an exasperating quack. 
If wounded, the bird skulks with head just above 



Duck-shooting S^, 

the water's edge ; and where reeds and long grass 
afford shelter, it is almost impossible to retrieve 
except by a well-trained dog. In some instances 
black duck, like mallard, are baited by corn placed 
on the feeding-ground. If exposed to tide or 
current, the grain should be well soaked first. No 
food is too good for black duck, and on the tender 
grasses abounding on the feeding-grounds of the 
South the flavor of their flesh is unsurpassed. 
Along the coast, in the deeper bays, small shell- 
fish and Crustacea comprise part of their diet, 
and should winter weather keep them from the 
marshes their flesh becomes almost fishy. While 
many black duck winter along the New England 
coast where they find open water, there is a regu- 
lar spring and fall migration of these birds winter- 
ing farther south. Late in March we find them 
in pairs. Now they seek the smaller ponds and 
streams, going on to the fresh-water meadows. 
Birds I have shot at this time have often had 
angleworms in their stomachs. 

The habits of the black duck and the mallard 
are similar, and in localities where the two are 
found they associate. The flight is characteristic, 
high and strong but irregular, and not in any line. 
When near by the white under wing-coverts are 
noticeable. Black duck can be reared in confine- 
ment, but for decoy purposes these birds are not 
as satisfactory as domesticated mallards. 



84 The Heater-fowl Family 

This species is also known as the dusky duck, 
and the black mallard. 

RED-LEGGED BLACK DUCK 
(Anas obscura rubripes) 

Adult tnale — "Similar to A. obscura, but larger ; the feathers of the 
pileum conspicuously edged with grayish or fulvous ; the dark 
markings on the fore neck and the sides of the head, coarser, 
blacker, and more sharply defined ; the entire throat usually 
streaked or spotted with blackish ; the tarsi and toes bright red ; 
the bill yellow." 

Measurements — Length, 25 inches; wing, 11 inches; culmen, 2.15 
inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

Adult fe7nale — Resembles male, but is smaller and less richly 
colored. 

Eggs — (Probably this form since taken at Rupert House, James 
Bay) grayish white, tinged sometimes with green; measure, 2.45 
by 1.77 inches. 

Habitat — Taken in the breeding season from James Bay, north to 
northern Labrador and the west shore of Hudson Bay, and 
probably Fort Anderson. Occurs in the migration on the 
Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland to North Carolina, and to 
Arkansas in the interior, wintering from Chignecto Bay, Nova 
Scotia, south. Probably the birds recorded in winter from 
western New York and Indiana, and possibly those in Ken- 
tucky, as well as part of the migrants reported from Ohio, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri, 
belong to this subspecies. 

This is the large black duck with red legs and 
a yellow bill that frequents the bays of New Eng- 
land and the Middle states in winter, coming to 
the marshes at night for food and water, when 
most of the small black ducks, with olive bills and 
brownish legs, have gone farther south. The 



Duck-shooting 85 

difference between the two forms has been 
shown recently by Mr. William Brewster. 

FLORIDA DUCK 
(Anas fulvigula) 

Similar to Anas obscura, but slightly smaller ; the difference being 
its lighter color, the chin, throat, front of neck, and most of 
cheeks being a creamy buff and unspotted; speculum, green, 
sometimes upper part white ; the buffy ochraceous margins are 
wider and brighter both above and below. A constant point 
of distinction is in the bill, the base of which in this species is 
margined by a narrow black line, which widens out into a tri- 
angular space beneath the feathering of the lores. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 10 to 10.50 inches ; tail, 
5 inches; culmen, 2.05 to 2.33 inches; width of bill, .90 inch ; 
tarsus, 1.70 to 1.80 inches; middle toe, 1.90 to 2 inches. 

Eggs — Eight to fourteen in number; pale dull buff, sometimes 
tinged with green; measure 2.15 by 1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Resident in Florida, chiefly in the southern part of the 
state, and becoming rare. Possibly occurs in West Indies ; re- 
corded also from Louisiana, and said to breed on the coast. 

The Florida black duck for a long time has 
been recognized as a distinct species. Its breed- 
ing range is confined entirely to the South. 
Instances of the black duck breeding south of 
the Carolinas are probably this variety. The 
nesting time in Florida is early in April (accord- 
ing to Mr. N. B. Moore). The bird nests not 
frequently at some distance from the water's edge, 
always on the ground. The female plucks the 
down from her breast for the nest lining. Eight 
to ten eggs are laid of a slightly lighter shade 



86 The IVater-fowl Family 

than the eggs of the common black duck. In its 
habit the bird closely resembles Anas obscura. 
The flesh is excellent. 

Mr. N. B. Moore, in " Baird, Brewer, and Ridge- 
way," gives an interesting description of this bird : 
" In August and September small flocks leave the 
fresh ponds and fly across the bay to sand-bars on 
the inner sides of the keys, where they spend the 
night in pools or coves, returning at sunrise. 
Those shot at this time are all males. In the 
late winter and early spring mated birds resort to 
the same places." Mr. Moore suggests as a 
reason for this species not being more common 
in the districts it frequents, the sweeping fires 
which destroy the dry grass. 



MOTTLED DUCK 
(Anas fulvigula tnactilosa) 

This subspecies resembles closely the Florida variety, differing from it 
in that the cheeks are streaked with brown, instead of being plain 
buff; the speculum is purple; in general effect the plumage is 
mottled and not streaked ; bill has a small black spot on base 
of lower edge of upper mandible, as in the Florida variety ; feet, 
reddish orange. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches ; wing, 10 inches; culmen, 2.25 
inches; tarsus, 1.75 inches; middle toe, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Seven to ten in number ; resemble those of the Florida duck 
in color and measurement. 

Habitat — Breeds from Louisiana, Texas, and probably northern 
Mexico, north to Kansas, and has been taken in Colorado. 
Winters on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Texas, and northern 
Mexico. 



Duck-shooting 8y 

For years the mottled duck was confused with 
the black duck, and still later with the Florida 
duck. Its habits are similar to those of these birds. 

Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny states that on April 28, 
1896, he shot in Louisiana a male mallard (A. 
boschas) mated with a female of this species, and 
collected the nest with ten eggs. 

GADWALL 
(Chaulelasmus streperus) 

Adult male — Top of head, reddish brown of varying shades, spotted 
with black ; rest of head, Hght buff speckled with dark brown ; 
throat, indistinctly spotted with brown ; upper part of back and 
breast, marked with crescentric black and white bars ; back, 
scapulars, and flanks, undulated with slate-color and white ; long 
scapulars, edged with brown ; lesser coverts, gray ; middle cov- 
erts, chestnut ; greater coverts, black ; secondaries, pale gray, 
with outer edge forming a speculum of white ; upper and under 
tail-coverts, black ; tail, dark gray, edged with white ; rest of 
under parts, white ; bill, bluish black ; nail, black ; iris, hazel ; 
legs and feet vary from yellowish to orange-yellow ; webs, dark. 

Measii7'ements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 10.75 inches; tail, 8.90 
inches; culmen, 1.80 inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

Adult female — Somewhat resembles the male, but the upper parts 
dusky, edged with bufif, and the under wing-coverts are pure 
white, and there is little or no chestnut on the lesser wing- 
coverts ; bill, dusky orange near the edges ; legs and feet, yel- 
lowish, with dark webs ; slightly smaller than the male. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches; wing, 10 inches; culmen, 1.70 
inches ; tarsus, i .60 inches. 

Young — Similar to female, but with no chestnut or black on the 
wings. 

Downy young — Upper parts, dark brown, with yellow spots on 
sides and back and rump ; lower parts, grayish ; forehead, 
throat, and chest, yellowish. 



88 The Water-fowl Family 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number; cream-color; measure, 2.15 by 
1.50 inches. 

Habitat — " Nearly cosmopolitan." In North America, breeds from 
Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, 
and the interior of California, north to Ontario, Hudson Bay, 
Assiniboia, and Alberta, and possibly the lower Mackenzie and 
the Yukon rivers. Winters from Virginia, possibly Maryland, 
Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Cali- 
fornia, south to Lower California, Mexico, and the West Indies. 
In migrations occurs very rarely on the Atlantic Coast north to 
Maine and Quebec, and on the Pacific to British Columbia, and 
one is recorded from the Aleutian Islands in December. Occurs 
in Bermuda. 

The gadwall is found more commonly in the 
interior than on the coast, and seems to prefer the 
prairie sloughs and marshes to the wooded lakes. 
The table-lands of North America, from Dakota 
and Montana south into Mexico, is the area over 
which they are most abundant. In April, 1901, 
near Tampico, I saw thousands of these birds. 
They were in large flocks near the shores of the 
lakes. We approached them in our dugouts and 
had no difficulty in coming within range, the birds 
starting up in front and settling down ahead to 
other flocks. At this time they did not appear 
to be mated. The flesh was excellent, and a 
happy change from the monotony of a Mexican 
diet. Later in May we found them still common 
near Chihuahua ; here they were in pairs, evidently 
about to nest. 

The gadwall undoubtedly breeds throughout 
most of its range. Creeks and marshes well 



Duck-sbooting 89 

lined with rushes are the sites selected. Here 
the nest is placed on the ground, constructed of 
grass, and carefully concealed, the duck covering 
her eggs well with down. The young birds are 
fledged late in August. In North Dakota many 
of the ducks seen in early September are gadwall, 
young birds undoubtedly bred in the vicinity. 
They leave before the first of October. In most 
of the more popular duck-hunting resorts through- 
out the United States, this bird is not as frequently 
met with as other water-fowl. This, and the fact 
that it does not decoy readily, makes it somewhat 
of a stranger. The gadwall is found most often 
in small flocks by itself or in the company of 
widgeon. It feeds in the shallow muddy creeks 
and pools on various kinds of vegetable matter. 
The birds become very fat, and if shot from a 
height the fall sometimes breaks open the skin. 
The flesh is delicate and tender, but in localities 
has a sedgy taste. On the wing the gadwall is 
an imposing bird, the dark breast giving it a 
black appearance. It is known by a variety of 
names, such as creek-duck, speckled belly, gray 
duck, gray widgeon, Welch drake, German duck. 

EUROPEAN WIDGEON 

{Mareca penelope) 

Adult male — Forehead and top of head, white, sometimes buff, rest 
of head rufous brown ; cluster of small green spots behind eye ; 
chin and throat, black ; breast, pinkish brown ; back and sides, 



90 The IVater-fowl Family 

undulated with black and white ; wing-coverts, white ; speculum, 
green ; lower parts, white ; under tail-coverts, black ; tail, 
pointed, brownish, becoming black at tip ; iris, hazel ; bill, 
slate ; nail, black ; legs and feet, slate, with dusky webs. 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches; wing, lo inches ; culmen, 1.40 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Adult female — Head and neck, rusty, speckled with black; upper 
parts, dusky brown, margined with gray ; wings, greenish brown ; 
speculum, dull black ; upper tail-coverts, brown ; tail, purplish 
brown, feathers edged with white ; breast and sides, light brown ; 
rest of under parts, white ; under tail-coverts, barred with black- 
ish brown ; iris, brown ; bill, slate ; nail, black ; legs and feet, 
brown, with dusky webs. 

Measurements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; culmen, 
1.36 inches ; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Five to eight in number; pale buflf; measure, 2.20 by 1.50 
inches. 

Habitat — The northern parts of the eastern hemisphere, breeding 
west to Iceland. Breeds probably also on the Aleutian Islands 
and possibly in Greenland and west of Hudson Bay. In the 
migrations and in winter, several have been recorded from Cali- 
fornia, one from Nova Scotia, and twenty-five or thirty from 
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and from Ken- 
ewatin and Great Slave Lake, though the last record may refer 
to M. atnericana, as the Kenewatin record certainly does. 

This bird, while breeding off Alaska to some 
extent, is a rare straggler to the United States; 
the more noteworthy instances of its occurrences 
being on Long Island, December, 1842, Alex- 
andria, Virginia, occasionally along the coast of 
California. Two instances the writer has seen : 
one an adult male, taken on the Illinois River; 
the second a full-plumaged male, killed on Long 
Island in the winter of 1899. The bird in most 



Duck-shooting 91 

cases has been shot in company with the American 
widgeon. That it occurs more frequently than is 
supposed, would be indicated by the fact that in 
some localities gunners speak of a red-headed 
widgeon, supposing the bird to be a cross between 
a red-head and a common widgeon, or baldpate. 
Undoubtedly birds of this species are referred to. 
In habits the European widgeon resembles the 
American variety, frequenting marshes and shal- 
low bodies of water in their vicinity ; but, unlike 
the American baldpate, is frequently seen on salt 
water, feeding almost entirely on the short grass 
growing on the bottom. The widgeon has been 
known to reach the age of twenty-three years. 

BALDPATE 

{Mareca americana) 

Adult male — Forehead and top of head, white ; a patch of metallic 
green behind the eye extends down the neck posteriorly ; 
remainder of head, buff speckled with black ; back and scapulars, 
brown, undulated with black ; wing-coverts, white ; the greater 
coverts, tipped with black forming a bar across the wing ; specu- 
lum, green and black ; under wing-coverts, white ; breast and 
sides, pale lilac, rest of under parts, pure white ; under tail-coverts 
black ; tail, brown, edged with white ; bill, slate, with a black 
nail; legs and feet, slate with dusty webs. 

Measurements — Length, ig inches ; wing, 10.50 inches ; culmen, i .50 
inches; tarsus 1.50 inches. 

Adult female — Top of head, black, edged with white ; rest of head, 
buff streaked with dusky ; upper breast and sides, reddish 
buff, with dark spots on breast ; rest of under parts, white ; 
upper parts, dusky, barred with buff; iris, brown 5 legs and feet, 
brown with dusky webs. 



92 The IVater-fowl Family 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches ; wing, 10.20 inches ; culmen, 1.40 
inches; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Young male — Resembles the female closely. Its general coloring, 
however, is deeper. The breast and flanks are more vinaceous, 
and the wing markings more clearly defined. 
' Downy young — Upper parts, dark olive; lower part of head and 
neck and under parts, lighter ; spots of buff on each side of 
back and rump. 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number ; ivory-white in color ; measure 
2.20 by 1.45 inches. 

Habitat — Recorded as breeding from Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, 
Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Utah, and British Columbia, 
north to Hudson Bay, Fort Anderson, Kotzebue Sound, the 
Yukon Delta, and probably the Aleutian Islands : breeds chiefly 
north of the United States. Winters from Maryland, irregularly 
north to Maine, Indiana, the lower Mississippi Valley, Texas, 
Idaho, Nevada, and British Columbia, south to the West Indies, 
Central America, and Lower California. Recorded as a migrant 
in Newfoundland and Labrador, and as a straggler in Europe, 
Bering Islands, Kamchatka, Hawaii, and Bermuda. 

This bird bears the unenviable reputation of 
a telltale; quick to notice danger and always 
ready to sound an alarm, many a flock of unsus- 
pecting ducks has turned out of harm's way 
under the leadership of a wary widgeon. 

The favorite haunts in the United States are 
the lakes and rivers of the middle and western 
United States and, in localities, the coasts. They 
are common along the southern and Lower Cali- 
fornia shores and on the Atlantic south of 
Maryland. 

The breeding-grounds are well to the north, on 
the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers, even to the 



Dtick-s booting 93 

Arctic Sea, rarely in the northern United States, 
both east and west of the Rocky Mountains. 
Wild lakes and rivers not much frequented by 
other ducks are the spots widgeon choose for 
their nests, which are placed on high dry ground 
in the woods, sometimes half a mile from water. 
The nest is constructed among the dry leaves, 
usually at the foot of a tree, the eggs well covered 
with down. During incubation the males collect 
by themselves and moult, assuming through the 
summer a dull plumage. In early October they 
appear in Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota, choos- 
ing the ponds and lakes of larger size. At first 
they are shot in some numbers where there are 
passes under their flight ; but they quickly become 
shy and fly high over land. A little later we find 
them throughout California and Colorado, and in 
the valley of the Salt Lake. By the end of 
October they appear on the Atlantic Coast. Here 
the mouths of the larger rivers and bays of 
brackish water are their haunts. As they keep 
well out of range of the points and only fly high 
over the marshes, it is difficult to kill them. At 
times these birds associate with canvas-back and 
black-heads, feeding on the grass the others dive 
for, and hence the name poacher. In heavy 
weather, with mallard and black duck, they come 
on to the marshes within range of the blind. In 
these instances the widgeon is usually the first to 



94 The IVater-fowl Family 

give alarm ; rising high in the air with strong, 
swift flight, it quickly speeds beyond reach. 
Often we see flocks of them with pintail, both 
birds being of much the same habit. Usually in 
small numbers, widgeon collect in large flocks in 
the spring. On Currituck Sound, in March of 
some years, the numbers of these ducks are 
remarkable and yet few are killed. They seem 
to have a morning and evening flight. In the 
late afternoon, flock after flock, high up, far out of 
range, follow each other in quick succession lead- 
ing toward the marshes and flats of the upper 
bay, returning in the early morning. The line of 
flight is abreast, and their clear whistling loud 
and characteristic. When wounded the bird 
skulks but seldom dives. They feed on wild 
celery where it exists, and on various water 
grasses, in the South visiting the rice-fields. It 
is one of our highly esteemed ducks for the table. 
In the various locations where it is found it goes 
by various names, such as the American widgeon, 
poacher, wheat-duck, baldcrown, baldpate, green- 
headed widgeon, zan-zan. 

The female of this species resembles slightly 
the gadwall, but distinction can readily be made 
by the speculum, which is gray in the gadwall, in 
the widgeon black, and by the dark mandible. 



Duck-shooting 95 

EUROPEAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL 
{IVettion crecca) 

Adtdt male — Similar to the American species, but without white 
bar on the breast ; the forehead and wing-coverts bordered by a 
pale buff line ; the black and white markings on back and sides 
are broader. The female is hardly distinguishable from the 
female of the American green-winged teal. 

Habitat — Inhabits the northern parts of eastern hemisphere, breed- 
ing from Iceland to the Commander Islands, and south to north- 
western Africa and Japan, and in winter occurs from the 
Canary Islands, northern Africa, Somaliland, and India, east 
to the Philippines. Recorded in North America from Green- 
land, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
York, Virginia, California, and the Aleutian Islands. 

This bird has occasionally been taken in many 
parts of America, and is probably more common 
than supposed, it being overlooked on account 
of its close resemblance to the North American 
variety. 

In size, eggs, and habits it resembles our 
species. 

GREEN-WINGED TEAL 

{Nettion carolinensis) 

Adult male — Head and neck, chestnut, with broad, metallic green 
band from eye to nape, terminating in a tuft of purplish black ; 
a narrow, buff line borders the under side of the green band ; 
chin, black ; back and sides, crossed with narrow, wavy black 
and white lines ; lower back, dark brownish gray ; upper tail- 
coverts, dusky, edged with white ; tail feathers, brownish gray, 
edged with white ; a broad white bar in front of bend of wing ; 
speculum, metallic green, bordered beneath by a broad, black 
bar, tipped with white ; breast, light buff, mottled with round, 
black spots, growing indistinct on under parts, which are white ; 



96 The IVater-fowl Family 

buff patch on each side of crissum ; under tail-coverts, black ; 
bill, black ; legs and feet, dark brown ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 14.50 inches; wing, 7.25 inches; culmen, 
1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Adult female — Top of head and neck, brown, feathers edged with 
ochraceous ; sides of head and neck, light buff, speckled with 
dusky ; chin and throat, buff; upper parts, dusky, feathers barred 
and margined with pale buff; wing, similar to male; rump, tail, 
and upper tail-coverts, brown, edged with white ; upper part of 
breast, dark buff, spotted with brown ; rest of under parts, white, 
with dusky spots ; legs and feet, brown ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 14.25 inches; wing, 6.70 inches; culmen, 
1.40 inches; tarsus, i inch. 

Young male — Like the female, but under parts, except sides, pure 
white. The wing is usually brighter. 

Downy young — Upper parts, grayish brown, a buff spot on each 
side of back and rump ; head, neck, and lower parts, pale buff; 
top of head, darker brown. 

Eggs — Eight to sixteen in number, pale buff in color, and measure 
1.80 by 1.30 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Vermont, 
Quebec, possibly Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and Ontario, 
Minnesota, South Dakota, Utah, and Oregon, and south in the 
mountains to Colorado, Arizona, and probably New Mexico, 
north to Labrador, possibly Greenland, Fort Anderson, Kotzebue 
Sound, and St. Michael, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands. Win- 
ters from Maryland, casually north to Maine, western New York, 
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, Nevada, Brit- 
ish Columbia, and the Aleutian Islands, south to the West 
Indies, Central America, and Lower California. Recorded from 
Great Britain, Bermuda, and Hawaii. 

This beautiful bird resembles almost exactly the 
European variety. While well known through- 
out our country it is not particularly common 
on the Atlantic Coast. The green-winged teal 
breeds farther north than the blue-winged, and 



Duck-shooting 97 

follows it on the southern migration. In summer 
passing into the British provinces, they nest as 
far north as Hudson Bay and Alaska, the south- 
ern limit of their breeding range being our 
northern mountain states. The nest, placed in 
a marsh and composed of grass, is neatly hidden. 
In mountainous countries a meadow along the 
stream is often the site. Occasionally the nearest 
water is some distance off, but this is an excep- 
tion. The broods are often large, and we some- 
times see this little duck with a charge of eighteen 
or more ducklings. The young, about the size 
of bantam chicks, follow the mother, keeping 
close to the shore in shallow water, seldom ven- 
turing far from the cover of grass or weeds. 
On September 10, 1890, at the Magdalen Islands, 
I flushed a female of this species. The bird ex- 
hibited every sign of distress. Soon a faint peep 
almost under foot revealed a little teal just 
hatched. After a careful search we found several 
others in the short grass. The old bird kept 
close by, flying within a few feet of us, uttering 
a plaintive note of alarm. This was undoubtedly 
a late second brood. 

The green- winged teal arrive in the United 
States after the blue-winged, and we find them 
in flocks together in September. They associate 
often with mallard and black duck, and have many 
habits in common. In Mexico the three varie- 



98 The IVater-fowl Family 

ties of teal are abundant, occurring together for a 
short time in the spring of the year. In April 
the green- and blue-winged were about equal in 
number with an occasional cinnamon teal. Three 
weeks later the green-winged teal had mostly gone, 
but we saw the blue-winged with the cinnamon. 

On the Atlantic Coast this bird occasionally 
straggles offshore and is killed with the sea 
ducks. An instance of this came to my notice 
last winter, when a full-plumaged male was killed 
by Charles Langfare, off Branford, Connecticut, 
in the Sound ; it came to broadbill decoys. 

The favorite haunts of the green-winged teal 
in the United States are the marshes and shallow 
lakes of the Western states. It is common in the 
Rocky Mountain states and in California, arriv- 
ing early in September and remaining until the 
first cold weather, when it is one of the first of 
our ducks to leave for warmer climates. They 
follow the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf states 
and are found along the Gulf of Mexico as far 
south as the shores of Central America, and at 
times are numerous in the West Indies. Popular 
with sportsmen and killed relentlessly by market 
gunners, this bird is exposed everywhere within 
its available range to persecution ; yet it is a 
pleasure to feel there are some localities where 
the green-winged teal still exists in large numbers, 
gentle and undisturbed. 



Duck-shooting 99 



BLUE-WINGED TEAL 
{Querquedula discors) 

Adult male — Top of head, chin, and space along base of bill, black ; 
a crescentric band of white, edged with black, goes from the 
forehead in front of the eye to the throat ; rest of head and 
neck plumbaceous, with a metallic purple gloss on occiput ; 
back, dusky, with bars of buff; long scapulars, greenish black, 
with a central stripe of buff; lesser wing-coverts, pale blue; 
greater coverts, dusky, with white tips forming a bar in front of 
the speculum, which is metallic green ; lower back and upper tail- 
coverts, dusky ; a white patch on each side of the tail ; entire 
lower parts, reddish buff, spotted with dusky, becoming paler on 
lower breast ; under tail-coverts, black ; iris, brown ; bill, black ; 
legs and feet, yellow, with dusky webs. 

Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 7.30 inches; culmen, 
1.70 inches; tarsus, 1.20 inches. 

Adult female — Top of head, black ; remainder of head and neck, 
buff, streaked with dusky ; chin and throat, white ; upper parts, 
dusky, feathers edged with buff; wing-coverts, blue, but green 
speculum is wanting ; under parts, buff, with dusky markings ; 
bill, greenish black ; legs and feet, greenish yellow. The blue 
patch on the shoulder is distinctive. 

Measiireittents — Length, 15 inches; wing, 7 inches; culmen, 1.40 
inches; tarsus, 1.12 inches. 

Young male — Similar to female ; white throat, speckled with dusky ; 
green speculum is visible ; under parts, buff, barred with dusky. 
Male during breeding season assumes the dull plumage of the 
female. 

Downy young — Top of head and upper parts, brown ; buff spots in 
front of wing, across wing, and at side of rump ; forehead, line 
to eye and lower parts, pale buff; sides of head and hind neck, 
ochraceous buff. 

Eggs — Ten to twelve in number, pale buff in color, and measure 
1.85 by 1.30 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Maine, occasionally Rhode Island, western 
New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, 
Nevada, Wyoming, and British Columbia, and probably Texas, 

L.ofC. 



loo The Heater-fowl Family 

Arizona, Mexico, and Lower California, north to New Bruns- 
wick, Labrador, Repulse Bay, Great Slave Lake, Saskatchewan, 
and possibly the Yukon Delta. Winters from Maryland, Ken- 
tucky, Missouri, Texas, and California, south to the West Indies, 
and South America to Ecuador. Rare on the Pacific Coast, 
and in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in migration. Re- 
corded from Europe and Bermuda. 

While the blue-winged teal is generously dis- 
tributed in the northern United States and lower 
provinces of Canada, the birds are in no way 
partial to cold weather and hurry along at the 
first frosts. True to the sunny South, they loiter 
on its inland waters and winter along the bays 
and lagoons of the Gulf Coast, well into the 
tropics. This bird loves the rice-fields, where 
the nature of the place affords protection when 
once the flocks are settled, their danger being on 
the flight to and from the feeding-ground. On 
this diet the teal attains the high reputation it 
holds among epicures. In late August we find 
them fully fledged, frequenting the marshes of 
the West where the wild rice grows. They are 
relentlessly hunted from time of first arrival. Dur- 
ing the hours that are sacred to the duck marsh, 
the time after dawn and toward dusk, they are 
found. At first many are killed by pushing 
through the grass as they jump up in front of the 
skiff or on their line of flight between the ponds. 
At the approach of evening the first line appears 
over the tops of the rush-grass, flying low and with 



Duck-shooting loi 

a speed possessed only by a teal. Another minute 
and they have passed; the rush of their wings 
told how closely they came ; but no one but an 
old hand could have stopped one. The next 
flock follow, the gunner rises in time, and they 
sheer off, crowding together in an attempt to 
turn ; but a well-placed shot drops several birds. 
So they come on until dark, when the soft 
whistling overhead tells of ducks still looking 
for a spot to feed and spend the night in 
peace. 

The male blue-winged teal in his full spring 
dress is one of our beautiful water-fowl. The 
delicate brown speckling of the breast, the light 
blue and white of the wing, and the soft violet of 
the head, with a face of white, make a pleasing 
combination. In this plumage he is seen in 
April and May, but not commonly on the eastern 
coast, the journey north being along the water- 
courses of the interior. We found large numbers 
of them near Tampico. It was late April, and 
they were mated but still in small flocks. Undis- 
turbed and tame, they gathered at the water's 
edge on the shores, keeping company with the 
yellowlegs and other waders ; if alarmed, they ran 
along the flats with the speed of a plover, or 
springing up they settled at a safer distance. 

The blue-winged teal undoubtedly breeds spar- 
ingly far south on its range, but most abundantly 



I02 The IVater-fowl Family 

on the northern prairies of the United States and 
Manitoba, choosing the borders of the sloughs of 
rush-grass. Here the nest is concealed among the 
weeds and rushes and consists of an accumula- 
tion of grass lined with feathers. The duck covers 
her eggs while away from the nest. June is the 
time for incubation. The male now loses his fine 
attire and takes on a plain brown plumage, closely 
resembling that of the duck. In late August 
the young are fledged and we see the first flocks, 
the mark of early fall. 

CINNAMON TEAL 
( Qiierquediila cyanopterd) 

Adult male — Top of head, blackish; rest of head, neck, and lower 

parts, bright chestnut ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, 

olive-brown, feathers lighter on edges ; wing-coverts, pale blue ; 

tips of greater wing-coverts, white, forming bar over a green 

speculum ; bill, black ; legs and feet, orange ; webs, dusky ; iris, 

orange. 
Measurements — Length, 17 inches; wing, 7.25 inches; culmen, 

1.80 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 
Adult female — Resembles the female blue-winged teal, but more 

reddish ; sides of head and throat, deep buff; back, olive-brown ; 

entire under parts, light brown ; breast, rufous, with dusky spots ; 

bill, dusky; feet, yellowish. 
Measurements — Length, 16.50 inches; wing, 6.75 inches; culmen, 

1.70 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 
Young male — Resembles female, but speculum is more distinct and 

under parts are streaked instead of spotted. 
Doivny young — Top of head and upper parts, olive; under parts, 

sides of head, and a stripe over the eye, yellowish buff; a narrow, 

dark brown stripe on sides of head ; two pair of buff spots, one 

on sides of back, the other on sides of rump. 



Duck-shooting 103 

Eggs — Twelve to fourteen in number; color, ivory-white; measure 
1.80 by 1.35 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in western North America, north to British Colum- 
bia, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, and east to western 
Kansas, and in western South America, probably south to Chili, 
where it is known to breed ; occurring also in Argentina, Pata- 
gonia, and the Falkland Islands. All winter south of the United 
States, excepting stragglers in Louisiana. Recorded also from 
the West Indies, Florida, New York, Texas, Nebraska, Illinois, 
Minnesota, Manitoba, and Alberta. 

The cinnamon teal is hardly common in the 
United States, where it is found chiefly in Cali- 
fornia, and is known as the red-breasted teal ; but 
in Mexico, throughout the table-lands, the bird is 
abundant. The first arrivals come late in March, 
and by May they are common on all the lakes 
and lagoons of the mesa. March 20, 1901, while 
looking for ducks along a little creek near Laguna, 
I saw, just below the edge of the bank, in the 
shallow water, some thirty or forty teal, mostly 
green-winged. After watching them for several 
minutes in the seclusion of their pool, a hawk 
started the flock, and as they rose, the dark red 
of one attracted my attention. It was shot. This 
was my first introduction to the cinnamon teal, 
and few birds have given me more pleasure at 
first acquaintance. By early May they were com- 
mon wherever there was water, at first associating 
with the flocks of other teal. These, however, 
soon left on their journey north, and the cinna- 
mon teal was abandoned to the companionship 



I04 The IVater-fowl Family 

of gadwall and shovellers. We often saw this trio 
of species, the teal frequenting the edges of the 
ponds, running along the flats, sometimes jump- 
ing up from the grass near the shore. They were 
in pairs, and very tame. Undoubtedly these birds 
came on to the high lands to breed at this time, 
for they are not found here after the early fall, in 
September and October resorting to the coasts. 
The nest is placed near the edge of the pond or 
marsh, on the ground, and composed of grass, 
lined with feathers, often concealed by more or 
less rush-grass loosely scattered over it. 

RUDDY SHELDRAKE 
{Casarca casarca) 

Adult male — Head and neck, buff, grading into orange-brown on 
the lower portion of the neck, which is surrounded by a black 
ring ; back, breast, and under parts, fox-red ; rump, yellowish 
red, streaked with black ; wing-coverts, white, with a speculum 
of greenish purple ; tail and tail-coverts, black ; bill, legs, and 
feet, blackish ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 24 inches; wing, 14.50 inches; culmen, 
1.75 inches; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Adult female — Similar to the male ; plumage is generally lighter and 
the color at the base of neck is lacking. 

Eggs — Eight to ten in number, cream color, measuring 2.55 by 1.85 
inches. 

Habitat — Southern Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia, east 
to China and Japan, straggling occasionally to Scandinavia and 
Iceland, and recorded twice from Greenland. 

This species has been included among the 
North American birds on account of the doubtful 



Duck-shooting 105 

evidence of two Greenland specimens. One of 
these birds was found by Dr. Vanhoffen, while 
naturalist of the expedition sent to West Green- 
land in 1892 by the Geographical Society of 
Berlin, in a small collection of birds' skins made 
that year in the district of Upernavik, and the 
fact that several were taken that year in Iceland 
increases the probability that this specimen was 
collected in Greenland. 

In many of its habits more like a goose than a 
duck, the ruddy sheldrake associates with geese, 
and has a call note that is gooselike in quality. 
It is a shy bird, feeding in the ponds and marshes 
at night, and spending the day on open plains 
where it can guard against danger. It breeds 
very early, seeking retired islands in lakes in Asia 
Minor. There it lays in holes among the rocks 
or sometimes in a burrow in the ground. 

SHOVELLER 
{Spattila clypeatd) 

Adult male — Head and neck, dark metallic green; dusky line on 
hind neck from head to back ; upper part of back, breast, and 
anterior scapulars, white ; rump, and upper and under tail-coverts, 
black glossed with green ; wing-coverts, pale blue ; speculum, 
metallic green ; tail, brown edged with white, a white patch on 
each side of base of tail ; entire under parts, deep chestnut ; bill, 
black ; iris, yellow ; legs and feet, orange-red. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches ; wing, 9.50 inches ; culmen, 2.80 
inches ; tarsus, i .40 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and sides, buff, streaked with dusky ; 
chin and throat, buff; speculum, green ; back, brown, edged with 



io6 The Water-fowl Family 

buff; under parts, buflf, spotted with brown ; bill, brown ; base of 
maxilla and mandible, orange ; iris, yellow ; legs, orange. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches ; wing, 8.75 inches ; culmen, 2.50 
inches; tarsus, 1.20 inches. 

Yotmg male — Resembles female, but coloring is deeper ; under parts 
darker. Adult male when moulting resembles female. 

Downy yoimg — Back of neck and upper parts, olive-brown, otherwise 
pale buff;, yellowish spots on each side of back and rump; the 
bill is like that of the other ducklings, not enlarged. 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number, greenish white in color, and 
measure 2.05 by 1.40 inches. 

Habitat — Europe, Asia, and northern portions of Africa in the Old 
World. In North America breeds from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and California and probably 
Lower California and Mexico, north to the Bering Sea coast of 
Alaska, Saskatchewan, Kenewatin, and probably to Fort Ander- 
son, and east to Ontario. Winters from Maryland, occasionally 
New Jersey, possibly Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, 
and British Columbia, south to the West Indies and Central 
America ; also in Hawaii. Occasional in migrations on the 
Atlantic Coast, north to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ; and 
in Bermuda. 

In the United States the shoveller has a wide 
range, but is rare on the Atlantic Coast. It is 
most abundant through the prairie states, south 
into Texas and Mexico. This species undoubtedly 
breeds along a large part of its range. It is found 
nesting regularly in the fur countries, in the 
vicinity of the Yukon River, Lake Winnipeg, and 
the Barren Grounds, and commonly in Montana, 
Dakota, and Manitoba. The nest is close to the 
water on the edge of a marsh or island, concealed 
under grass or brush, and consists of a mere de- 
pression, roughly lined with grass. A nest found 



>2±i 




SHOVELLERS — MALE AND FEMALE 



Duck-shooting 107 

by Mr. B. F. Goss at Horicon Lake, southern 
Wisconsin, May 24, is described as situated 
near the highest part of a small island, some five 
feet from the water on bare ground, and in com- 
pany with numbers of mallards. The nest con- 
tained ten fresh eggs. It breeds from late May 
to July, the time corresponding to the locality. 
There is a record of a brood of shovellers hatched 
in the garden of the Zoological Society in England 
in the summer of 1841. After the duties of incu- 
bation the bright plumage of the male is shed, 
and the bird assumes an attire like that of the 
female, but darker, not resuming his splendid 
dress of winter until October. During the latter 
part of August the shoveller is perhaps the com- 
monest duck of our Western states, frequenting the 
ponds and sloughs of the prairies. Here they are 
found with large numbers of other ducks, and are 
the tamest and most readily approached of all the 
flocks. They feed on various vegetable and animal 
substances which the peculiar, broad bill is specially 
adapted for sifting from the water. The flesh, 
while good, is not equal to that of the mallard or 
teal. When the vast numbers of ducks congregat- 
ing on the lake are disturbed, the shovellers cross 
the land low down, and while the flight is speedy, 
they are readily killed. These birds come well to 
decoys ; but as the localities where they are most 
abundant are rather beyond the range of the ordi- 



io8 The M^ater-fowl Family 

nary duck-hunter, not many are killed in this way. 
Late fall and early winter finds the shoveller in the 
Southwestern states and Mexico, going well into 
the tropics. The male in his adult plumage is 
one of our most beautiful ducks. The combina- 
tion of light blue and white of the wing, with the 
rich brown of the breast, is particularly striking. 
The green head and rather large appearance cause 
him sometimes at a distance to be confused with 
the mallard, but when nearer the distinction is 
readily made. In Mexico the shoveller, with the 
gadwall and cinnamon teal, stay latest. In April, 
1 90 1, I saw in a small pool near one of the ranches 
in northern Mexico a flock of several hundred 
shovellers, the large majority of them males. 
They allowed close approach and continued to 
preen their feathers, at times uttering a low gut- 
tural quack. The brilliant coloring of these birds 
in the bright sunlight was a splendid sight. This 
small pond was the only water for twenty miles, 
and the Mexicans informed us they arrived in 
small relays in March, staying until May. Late 
in May, near Chihuahua, shovellers were numerous. 
At this time they were mated. A number of males, 
shot then, showed evidence of a beginning of change 
in plumage. The lagoons of the Gulf Coast of 
Mexico are the winter resort of great numbers of 
these birds, as well as the bays of California and 
the Pacific Coast of Mexico. This bird is common 



Duck-shooting 109 

in Texas and Louisiana, and is found sparingly on 
the Atlantic Coast of the Southern states, but is 
rare north of North Carolina and a straggler in 
New England. Two are recorded from Rye Beach, 
Massachusetts, in August, 1872. Four killed on 
the sand-bars just outside of New Haven harbor 
in September, 1886, were brought to the writer. 

The shoveller is known by a variety of names, 
such as spoonbill, blue-winged shoveller, red- 
breasted shoveller, spoon-billed teal, spoon-billed 
widgeon, broadbill, swaddlebill, mud shoveller, 
mesquin. 

PINTAIL 
(JDafila acuta) 

Adult tnale — Head and upper neck, brown, darkest on the crown; 
sides of head with metallic purple reflections ; upper part of 
neck, black behind, lower part lighter, with faint white undula- 
tion ; a white stripe beginning at upper edge of black portion 
passes down sides of neck and is continuous with the white of 
lower parts ; back and sides waved with fine, narrow, white and 
dusky lines ; wing-coverts, brownish gray, the last row tipped 
with cinnamon, forming a bar across the wing ; speculum, bronze, 
with copper and green reflections, with an outside black bar 
and white tip ; under parts, pure white ; upper tail-coverts, 
black, edged with white, and lengthened ; tail feathers, pointed, 
dark brown on outer side, gray on inner ; the two central feath- 
ers black, long, and pointed, extending beyond the others ; 
under tail-coverts, black, edged with white ; iris, brown ; bill, 
slate, black on tip ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 26 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; culmen, 
2.30 inches; tarsus, 1.60 inches; tail, 7 inches. 

Adult fetnale — Top of head, brown, streaked with black; rest of 
head, buflf, streaked with dusky ; upper parts, dusky, crossed 
with bars of buff; under parts, white, streaked with dusky; 



no The IVater-fowl Family 

upper tail-coverts, spotted with black and white; bill, bluish 
gray, blackish on top ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 21 inches ; wing, 9.30 inches ; culmen, 1.80 
inches; tarsus, 1.60 inches. This bird is easily distinguished 
from female ducks of other species by its long, slender neck. 

Young male — Similar to female, but with speculum on wing. 

Downy young — Top of head, back of neck and upper parts, olive- 
brown ; a dull white stripe on each side of back, and over eye ; 
a brown stripe through the eye from bill ; under parts, grayish 
white. 

Eggs — Five to nine in number, pale grayish green and measure 2.30 
by 1.55 inches. 

Habitat — In the Old World, Europe, breeding south to the Rhone 
Delta, Asia, northern Africa, China, and Japan. In North 
America, breeds in New Brunswick and from Minnesota, Illi- 
nois, Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington, 
possibly Arizona and California, north to the Bering Sea coast 
of Alaska, Kotzebue Sound, Point Barrow, and Fort Anderson, 
and probably east to Davis Strait and Hudson Bay. Winters 
from Virginia, rarely Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, possibly Wis- 
consin, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada, and British Columbia, south 
to the West Indies and Central America; also in Hawaii. 
Occasional on the Atlantic Coast in migration, north to New- 
foundland and Labrador, in Greenland and in Bermuda. 



With a range as extensive as the mallard's, 
this species is nowhere as common. We find the 
pintail widely dispersed in the Old World, and 
occurring throughout North America, inland and 
on the coasts. The northern regions of both 
continents are their breeding-grounds. In North 
America through the Barren Grounds to the 
Arctic Sea and from Great Slave Lake to Alaska, 
this bird nests as far south as the northern border 
of the United States. Nelson, observing the birds 



Duck-shooting 1 1 1 

breeding on the Yukon, speaks of their habits 
at this time as interesting and peculiar. " The 
duck rises to a great height after the manner of 
a snipe, and setting the wings descends with a 
rush, causing a roaring noise which is heard at 
considerable distance." The nest is placed on 
low, dry ground, a short distance from water, 
under the shelter of bushes. It is a mere de- 
pression, lined with down and feathers. The 
duck lays from six to ten eggs. On the prairies 
of Dakota, Montana, and Manitoba the pintail 
occupy the same marshes as the mallards for 
their nesting, but the birds do not associate. 
The duck is a close sitter, and loath to leave her 
eggs. During early incubation the male is some- 
times seen in the vicinity, but later leaves to 
moult, and during this period assumes a brown 
plumage not unlike the female, but darker, distin- 
guishable by the tail feathers and the brighter 
speculum of its wing. The young are hatched 
early in July, and able to fly in September, when 
fledged frequenting the larger ponds in company 
with numbers of other ducks. If disturbed, they 
are among the first birds to take flight, springing 
into the air, coming over the pass with a speed 
that makes them the easiest of birds to miss. 

In October we see the first evidences of the 
winter plumage. The males now are in full 
dress, with the exception of their long tail 



112 



The Heater-fowl Family 



feathers, which are not yet fully grown. By the 
last of the month they are scattered over their 
fall haunts, and are seen in numbers throughout 
the West and South. 

In portions of the West, where they frequent 
the ponds and smaller lakes, they are much more 
easily killed than on larger bodies of water. The 
pintail arrive on the coast of North Carolina late 
in October, and are found in numbers through the 
brackish sounds. Decoys attract them occasion- 
ally, but never in as large numbers as the other 
ducks, for they are always wary and quick to 
suspect danger. These birds can be distin- 
guished afar. The white under parts of the male 
and their long necks mark them at once. The 
flight is high in lines abreast, but almost before 
the flock is seen they are by and out of sight. 
When about to decoy no bird is more graceful ; 
they often drop from a height far out of range 
and circle about the stool, watching carefully for 
the slightest motion ; finally they swing within 
range and plunge among the wooden ducks. 
After realizing the mistake, they spring up all 
together, and are out of shot almost before you 
realize the chance is gone. 

On the water, pintail maintain the same grace 
they show in flight, carrying themselves with all 
the ease of a swan. Many of the flocks winter 
much farther south than North Carolina, and 



Duck-shooting 113 

arrive in the spring on the journey north in large 
numbers. The birds are seen at this time pass- 
ing high over the marshes, where they feed at 
night, often with the black duck and mallard, 
leaving early in the morning. The flight is like 
the widgeons', but quieter, their whistling not 
as noticeable. They have the same habit of 
alarming other ducks, and spoil many chances 
for the hunter. The pintail resort to large open 
bodies of water, especially when much disturbed 
by hunting ; but they are surface feeders and do 
not dive for food; grasses and various vegetable 
matter growing in the shallow water form the 
diet. The flesh is excellent, and the bird is 
highly esteemed for the table. When wounded, 
they will dive to effect escape, but prefer to skulk 
and hide. On the New England coast the pin- 
tail is rare, nor is it common on Long Island. 
Only a few instances of its occurrence in Con- 
necticut are known to the writer, and these were 
birds killed at dusk with black duck. 

This species is known by a variety of names, 
sprigtail, spiketail, spindletail, spreetail, pigeon- 
tail, and smee. 

WOOD DUCK 
(Aix sponsd) 

Adult ?nale — Head with a crest reaching well down to the back, of 
green and violet metallic hues ; a narrow white line at the angle 
of the maxilla passes over its edge and reaches to the end of the 



114 The Heater-fowl Family 

crest ; another white line beginning below and behind the eye 
extends along the lower end of crest ; cheeks and sides of neck, 
violet-black ; crest, silky in texture of metallic greens and 
purples ; throat and front of neck, pure white ; back, dark brown 
glossed with green ; lower back and rump darker, grading into 
black on upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts, steel-blue with black 
tips ; scapulars, black with metallic reflections ; the longer 
tertials tipped with a white bar ; lower portion of throat and 
breast extending well on to the sides, chestnut, mottled in front 
with white ; on the sides of the breast, above shoulder, is a 
broad black bar over which is another of white ; sides and 
flanks, buff crossed by fine wavy black lines ; feathers of the 
upper borders having at their ends two bars of black enclosing 
a white one ; lower breast, pure white ; on each side of rump is 
a patch of dark purple ; under tail-coverts, dark greenish brown ; 
tail, black, with metallic reflections ; bill, purple, red behind the 
nostrils with a black spot on the culmen ; nail, black ; an oblong 
spot of white from nostril to nail ; basal outline, yellow ; legs 
and feet, brownish yellow with dark webs ; eyelids, vermilion ; 
iris, red, sometimes reddish brown. 

Measureme7its — Length, 19 inches; wing, 9.30 inches; tail, 4.70 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches; culmen, 1.40 inches. 

Adult female — Head, gray ; crest shorter and smaller than drake's ; 
back and rump and upper tail-coverts, brown, glossed with 
bronze ; wings similar to male's but with wider band of white ; 
breast, reddish brown ; under parts, white ; flanks, brown spotted 
with white ; bill, dark lead color with a black nail ; legs and 
feet, yellowish brown ; eyelids, yellow ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 17 inches ; wing, 8.30 inches ; tarsus, 1.30 
inches; culmen, 1.30 inches. 

Downy young — Head and upper parts, dark brown; sides of the 
head, with a stripe over the eye, buff; dull white spots on the 
shoulder and on each side of the rump. 

Eggs — Eight to fourteen in number, ivory-white when unsoiled, and 
measure 2.10 inches in length by 1.50 in breadth. 

Habitat — Breeds from Florida and the Gulf states, Colorado, 
Nevada, and California, north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
possibly Labrador, Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and 
British Columbia. Winters chiefly in the United States, from 



Diick-shooting 1 1 5 

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas, 
south to the West Indies and Mexico, and in Oregon and 
California. Accidental in Europe and Bermuda. 

Any hunter could well repent his ruthlessness 
as he holds in his hand the dead wood-drake, 
and wish him alive and back again, a beautiful 
ornament to woodland waters. The stream, where 
it broadens into quiet water, well protected by a 
thick growth of alders, or some old mill-pond 
back in the woods, long since deserted, will miss 
him. Here he spent the late spring and early 
summer with his mate, and saw the young brood 
fledged. In October he brought them to the spot 
where young oaks line the water's edge and hide 
the swamp, affording their favorite food, acorns. 
And now with October foliage at its height, when 
cold nights warned him to push farther south and 
take his charge, he falls, his splendid plumage 
blood-stained. No bird less deserved the fate. 

Wood duck are found in the woodland dis- 
tricts of the United States and Canada, north to 
the 50th parallel. They arrive in New England 
and the northern United States early in May, 
and frequent the secluded streams and lakes. At 
first in flocks of several, they soon separate and 
each pair seeks a nesting-place. This is generally 
the hollow of a tree or broken stump, rarely a 
deserted crow's nest. The aperture is thirty or 
forty feet from the ground and surprisingly small 



ii6 The IVater-fowl Family 

for the size of the bird, the eggs being some- 
times three or four feet from the opening. The 
bird flies through the woods and Hghts on the 
tree with all the speed and grace of a wild dove. 

Wilson describes a nest of the summer duck 
found on the Tuckahoe River, New Jersey, May i8: 
" The tree was twenty yards from water on a 
declivity ; in its hollow and broken top about six 
feet down, lying on soft decayed wood, were thir- 
teen eggs, covered with down. This tree had 
been repeatedly occupied." 

In an instance the writer has noticed, a pair of 
wood duck for years built in a broken branch of 
an elm, standing on the edge of a mill-pond in a 
small New England town. When the young 
were hatched the brood regularly disappeared, 
the birds trusting the locality for nesting purposes, 
but not for rearing their young. 

Professor Kumlien describes a nest found in 
Wisconsin, in a high burr oak, in a thicket three- 
quarters of a mile from water. 

The young are carried to the ground by the 
old bird in her bill. The little brood frequent 
some wild spot where foliage hides them, or a 
secluded pool along a stream. They feed on 
insects, water larvae, or tender buds. The mother's 
note is low and prolonged, resembling the sylla- 
bles whee-wkee, and the young answer with a 
soft peep. The brood fly in September, and in 



Duck-shooting 117 

the fall we look for them in spots where acorns 
drop into the water. On this food they quickly 
fatten, and the bird in some localities goes by the 
name of acorn duck. With the first threatenings 
of winter they pass on toward the south and we 
find them in our Gulf states, frequenting the 
ponds and rivers. 

This bird is also known as the summer duck, 
bridal duck, wood widgeon, and branchier in 
Louisiana. 

Gentle and readily domesticated, the wood 
duck deserves all possible protection; but the 
excellence of its flesh and demand for its feath- 
ers expose it to a relentless persecution, and this 
species is rapidly decreasing. 



CHAPTER III 

DUCK-SHOOTING {CONTINUED') 

THE SEA-DUCKS 

{Fidigtilincz) 

Nearly allied to the river-ducks in most points, 
a sea-duck can be distinguished always by the 
membranous lobe on the hind toe. Their feet 
and palmations are also larger, and their legs 
set farther back on the body, with the result that 
their walk is even more of a waddle. In many 
of their habits they closely resemble the river- 
ducks, but they are fond of deep water at all 
seasons of the year, and sometimes occur in flocks 
containing thousands of individuals. Except in 
the breeding season, few of them frequent fresh 
water to any extent, but gather in large beds off 
the coasts, flying into some bay in the morning to 
feed, and retiring far from shore at night. They 
are expert divers, often obtaining their food at great 
depth, sometimes seeking the bottom even in one 
hundred and fifty feet of water. Their bodies, 
however, are so heavy relatively to their wings, 
that most of them cannot rise from the water 

ii8 



Duck-shooting 119 

except against the wind, and after they have 
started, the flight is usually not so graceful as that 
of the river-duck. They feed chiefly on shellfish 
and Crustacea, and their flesh is rank and fishy; 
but some, as the red-head, canvas-back and ruddy 
duck, live on vegetable substances, and are highly 
valued by epicures. 

Though distributed throughout the world, the 
majority of the forty or more species in the 
family inhabit the northern hemisphere, breeding 
far to the north. Some species lay their eggs in 
large colonies on retired islands on the northern 
coasts, the males collecting in enormous flocks 
and living on the ocean some distance from the 
land, while the females assume all the responsi- 
bilities of incubation and raise the young. The 
nests are on the ground, often under bushes, 
and consist of a few twigs, grass, and leaves, 
mixed with the down of the parent. This down 
in the eider is so abundant that it has become an 
article of commerce, and on the coasts of Green- 
land, Iceland, and Norway the breeding colonies 
are visited regularly by the inhabitants, and the 
nests and many of the eggs collected. An aver- 
age nest will weigh about an ounce and a third, 
and from Greenland and Iceland nearly six thou- 
sand pounds of down are exported annually. 
These birds are carefully protected, and become 
so tame that they sometimes breed in the houses 



I20 The IVater-fowl Family 

of the inhabitants, and will allow themselves to 
be lifted from their eggs without a struggle. 

The sea-ducks are very hardy birds, some of 
them spending the winter on the ocean, not very 
far from the Arctic circle, cold apparently not 
troubling them in the least, as long as food is 
abundant and water sufficient for their needs 
remains unfrozen. The sexes differ in plumage, 
that of the male being often very handsome. A 
metallic speculum on the wing is rare. In many 
species the males assume in^ summer a dull plu- 
mage resembling the female, as do the river-ducks, 
this plumage persisting for only a few weeks. 
There is wide variation between the different 
members of this family. While the scoters are 
black and white with brightly colored bills, the 
males and females differing little, the eiders, with 
strangely shaped bills, are black and white in the 
male, and brown in the female. Both of these 
groups are large and clumsy. Contrasting with 
them we find the small and graceful old squaw, 
with its long central tail feathers, and the little 
ruddy duck, its tail feathers long and stiff, and 
the male colored bright red. The Labrador 
duck, which occurred formerly on the coasts of 
New England and the Middle states, was a near 
relative of the eiders. 

A strange species of sea-duck living in South 
America is known as the steamer-duck, because 



Duck-shooting 1 2 1 

its movements when swimming are said to resem- 
ble those of a side-wheel steamer. Young birds 
of this species can fly, but as they grow older 
they lose this power, and content themselves with 
diving and swimming. Australia possesses, as 
might be expected, a very peculiar sea-duck. In 
this species both sexes are brownish black in color, 
but the male is nearly twice the size of the female, 
and has a large wattle under the chin. It flies 
rarely, but is a wonderful diver, staying under 
water a remarkably long time. The male in the 
breeding season gives out a strong odor of musk. 

RUFOUS-CRESTED DUCK 
(Neita rufind) 

Adult male — Head and upper neck, vinaceous rufous, the soft and 
bushy crest, paler ; stripe on hind neck, rump, upper tail-coverts 
and lower parts, brownish black ; back and scapulars, grayish 
brown ; speculum, outer portion of scapulars, anterior border 
and under side of wing, axillars and broad space on flanks, 
white ; primaries, whitish, the tips of all and outer webs of first 
five, grayish brown ; tail, grayish brown ; bill, bright vermilion- 
red, tipped with white ; irides, reddish brown ; legs, orange-red. 

Measurements — Length, 21 inches; wing, 10.25 inches; tail, 4 
inches; culmen, 2 inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Adult female — Crest smaller than adult male; top of head and 
stripe on hind neck, hair brown ; rest of upper parts, grayish 
brown, darker on rump and upper tail-coverts ; white scapular 
patch wanting, and white border to wings indistinct ; speculum, 
pale ashy, darker terminally and tipped with white ; sides of 
head, neck, and abdomen, pale ashy ; rest of lower parts, brown- 
ish white, becoming white on under tail-coverts ; primaries, like 
male but slightly darker ; bill, blackish tipped with pink ; irides, 
hazel ; legs, pinkish ; palmations, blackish. 



122 The PVater-fowl Family 

Meastiretnents — Length, 20 inches; wing, 10 inches; tail, 3.75 
inches; culmen, 1.90 inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Young male — Similar to adult female, but crest smaller and more 
reddish ; the border of wing distinctly white, and white scapular 
patch plainly indicated. 

Downy young — Upper parts, dull olive-gray; lower parts and 
scapular spots, pale yellowish gray ; yellowish gray superciliary 
stripe ; olive-gray stripes on lores, one passing above supercili- 
ary stripe and the other below eye to auriculars. 

Eggs — Eight to ten, pea-green, measuring 2.20 by 1.70 inches. 

Habitat — Eastern hemisphere, from the Mediterranean basin to 
Turkestan and India, breeding irregularly north to Scotland, the 
Kola Peninsula, and on the Yenisei River, Siberia, to within the 
Arctic circle. Accidental in eastern United States. 

The only claim of this species to rank as an 
American bird is that on February 2, 1872, Mr. 
George A. Boardman found a young male in Ful- 
ton Market, New York, and this bird is believed 
to have been shot on Long Island Sound. 

It is a rather shy and solitary bird, not found 
in large flocks or associating much with other 
ducks. Not being an expert at diving it fre- 
quents shallow, fresh-water marshes, feeding on 
water-plants of various kinds. It breeds on small 
islands in the Rhone Delta of southern France, 
where Mr. W. Eagle Clarke found two nests on 
May 17, 1894. They were on the ground in 
the centre of thick and tangled masses of shrub- 
bery, and were reached by covered passages fully 
two feet long, which had been worked through 
the bottom of the bushes. These nests, com- 
posed of down, held ten and seventeen eggs ; but 



Duck-shooting 123 

the latter were doubtless laid by two females, as 
they differed in size and color. The males were 
swimming near these islands and impressed Mr. 
Clarke with their great beauty, their crests look- 
ing as if " fringed with gold." 

RED-HEAD 

{Aythya americana) 

Adult male — YitzA and neck, rich reddish brown, glossed with 
purple ; lower neck, chest, upper parts of back, rump, and upper 
and lower tail-coverts, black; remainder of back, sides, and 
flanks, grayish white, jfinely undulated with black ; wing-coverts, 
gray; speculum, ash-gray, bordered above with black, and 
posteriorly with white; tail, dark brown; under parts white, 
growing gray toward under tail-coverts ; bill, broad and flat, 
rising at the base abruptly to the forehead; slate in color 
and crossed by a black bar near the tip ; iris, orange ; legs and 
feet, plumbous ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 19.50 inches ; wing, 9 inches ; culmen, 2. 10 
inches ; tarsus, 1.40 inches ; bill .80 inch in width. 

Plumage of male in post-nuptial dress similar to female. 

Adult female — Head and neck, pale brown, darkest on top; chin 
and throat, white ; cheeks, grayish brown ; back and scapulars 
of the same color ; feathers tipped with light gray ; wing-coverts, 
light gray ; speculum, ash-gray ; lower back, dark brown ; chest 
and sides, gray-brown ; feathers of abdomen broadly edged with 
whitish ; bill, slate with a black nail ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, 
dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches; wing, 9 inches; culmen, 2 
inches; tarsus, 1.35 inches. 

Downy young — Top of head and upper parts, olive with a yellow 
spot on the sides of body and rump and on the borders of 
wings ; sides of head, neck, and lower parts, buff. 

Eggs — Eight to twenty in number, grayish white, and measure 2.40 
by 1.70 inches. 



124 The Water-fowl Family 

Habitat — Breeds from Michigan, possibly Indiana, Minnesota, 
Nebraska, Missouri, possibly Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and 
California, and reported as breeding in Maine, north to the fur 
countries west of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and 
British Columbia. Winters from Maryland, rarely north to 
Massachusetts, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Wyoming, Arizona, 
Nevada, and British Columbia, south to the West Indies, Mexico, 
and Lower California. In the migrations, found occasionally on 
the Atlantic, north to the coast of Labrador. 

The red-head is an associate of the canvas-back 
in many localities and a close second in popular- 
ity. The same persecution along the eastern 
coast has decimated the flocks and driven the 
birds away, yet small numbers are still seen in 
their old haunts, while the canvas-back are prac- 
tically gone. 

The lakes and watercourses of our Western 
states were the former resorts of countless myr- 
iads of these birds, and even now in Minnesota, 
Dakota, and Montana the red-head is still abun- 
dant, breeding in the prairie sloughs, and north 
into Manitoba on the shores and islands of wild 
marshy lakes. Here red-heads breed in colonies 
by themselves or in the company of mallards. 
The nest is somewhat elevated, constructed of 
grass and loose material, carefully canopied over, 
frequently built up from the bottom in shallow 
water among clumps of rushes. The eggs are 
eight to twenty in number, and with them are occa- 
sionally seen those of the ruddy duck. Incuba- 
tion is begun in early June, and the duck is left 



Duck-sbooting 125 

in charge alone, her mate disappearing to moult 
and change his dress, going into a brown plumage 
for the summer. The marshes of central North 
America through the fur countries afford breed- 
ing-grounds for numbers of red-head. The young 
are fledged in late August, and many are killed 
near their nesting-places, as they are not wild and 
are readily approached. In North Dakota a hunter 
can easily tire of shooting, but destruction of this 
sort now is fortunately prevented by well-enforced 
game laws. If other Western states protected 
their wild fowl against the ravages of the pot- 
hunter and the wanton sportsman in the same 
efficient way, much would be accomplished in 
preserving our wild duck. 

In the fall of 1894, near Sanborn, North Dakota, 
warm weather had persisted until late September, 
when the first frost came. A few days later, about 
October i, I noticed the first flocks of flight red- 
head. These passed over high up, for the most 
part far out of range. The few we killed were all 
old males with well-marked traces of the summer 
plumage. This was most apparent in the brown 
feathers of the head and breast. By the middle 
of October they appear on the marshes of the 
West, and are common from the Great Lake states 
to the Rocky Mountains, and along the Missouri 
and Mississippi valleys to the states bordering on 
the Gulf of Mexico. 



126 The PVater-fowl Family 

Numbers remain in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri 
until driven farther south by cold weather. In 
November and December they are found in Texas 
and in the bays and lagoons along the Mexican 
coast. The red-head is numerous in California 
and Colorado ; abundant in the valley of the Salt 
Lake, passing into Mexico, where it winters on 
the interior lakes and along the Pacific Coast. 
These birds reach the Chesapeake early in Novem- 
ber, crossing the interior and not following to any 
extent the Atlantic coast-line. They winter off 
the coast of North Carolina, remaining until 
March, some passing as far south as Florida and 
the Bahamas. On the Chesapeake they feed on the 
vallisneria, and under these circumstances the 
flesh equals that of the canvas-back. The red- 
head has many of the habits of the canvas-back, 
and is killed in the same way, — from blinds on 
the points along the line of flight, batteries off- 
shore, or brush blinds staked out in shallow bays on 
their feeding-grounds. In Currituck and Pamlico 
sounds the regular method of shooting is from 
batteries and brush blinds. The brush is set out 
and left unused for some time until the birds 
become accustomed ; then, when the opportunity 
offers, at the first streak of dawn the skiff is 
pushed out of sight in the brush tops, well sur- 
rounded by stool. The first small flocks of six 
or eight soon appear, usually taking some certain 



Duck-shooting 127 

course. Once within sight of the decoys, one or 
two ducks turn in on set wings; another instant 
and the flock hover in front. When startled, 
they often spring together, and the gunner of ex- 
perience waits for this chance. Red-head come 
to decoys with a grace few ducks possess, if only 
they decide to come ; but many times in full sight 
of the stool they turn neither to right nor left, 
keeping the same aggravating course, just out of 
range. 

These birds hail to a red flag almost as well as 
the broadbill, but at the present time of more 
gunners than ducks, tolling is seldom used. 

On Long Island the red-head is found in small 
flocks. The eastern end of Great South Bay and 
of Shinnecock Bay for the past two years have 
been the resort of these birds. North of Long 
Island, along the coast, this species is rare. In 
Connecticut the red-head I have seen have usually 
been in flocks of the large broadbill, and several 
birds in my possession were shot under these cir- 
cumstances. In March, 1900, five red-head were 
killed on Lake Saltonstall, near New Haven. In 
the spring of the year these birds are killed in 
large numbers in certain places along the Missis- 
sippi and its tributaries, when the woods are 
flooded. The red-head is a high, fast flyer, a 
gentle whistling marking the flight. Occasionally 
a low quack is heard, but generally the bird is 



128 The Water-fowl Family 

silent. They dive and skulk with a skill that 
saves many a wounded bird. The similarity in 
size and marking of the red-head to the canvas- 
back has made it possible to substitute it for 
the latter. The bill always distinguishes the birds, 
being broad and flat in the red-head and long and 
thin in the canvas-back. 

This species is also known as the raft-duck and 
pochard. 

CANVAS-BACK 
(^Aythya vallisneria) 

Adult male — Top of head and feathers at the base of bill, black ; 
rest of head and neck, brownish red ; upper part of back, chest, 
and upper and under tail-coverts, black ; wing-coverts, gray, ver- 
miculated with white ; speculum, gray ; tips vermiculated with 
white, and inner feathers edged externally with black ; rest of 
plumage, white, finely undulated on the back with black ; bill, 
narrow, widening slightly toward the end and longer than the 
head, black in color; tail, black; iris, red; legs and feet, slate. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches ; wing, 9.10 inches ; culmen, 2.40 
inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and upper part of back, brown, rest of 
back, darker ; tips of the feathers undulated with white ; under 
parts, white ; speculum, gray tipped with white, inner feathers 
edged with black on outer web ; tail, dark brown ; iris, brown ; 
bill, black ; legs and feet, slate. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 9 inches; culmen, 2.25 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Downy young — Upper parts, brown, with buff spots on sides of chest, 
lower back, and rump ; space around eye, sides of head and neck, 
and lower parts, bufty white. 

Eggs — Six to ten in number ; pale gray green in color, and measure 
2.50 by 1.80 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada, 
Oregon, and British Columbia, north to Fort Anderson and Fort 



Duck-shooting 129 

Yukon. Winters in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, for- 
merly abundantly, now rarely ; occasionally south to Florida and 
straggling to the West Indies ; and from western New York 
rarely, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, and 
British Columbia, south to California, Mexico, Central America, 
and the Gulf Coast. In the migrations occurs on the Atlantic 
Coast rarely, north to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and in 
Bermuda. 



The story of this duck on our eastern coast is 
one of days that are past. In the halcyon times 
when Chesapeake Bay and the canvas-back duck 
were words inseparable, the winter home was here. 
The large flocks arrived about the middle of No- 
vember, tired and thin from their long flight; they 
gathered on the bars offshore, rising only when 
disturbed, feeding on the beds of tape-grass or 
vallisneria (not the wild celery, as popularly sup- 
posed). On this diet the flesh attained its highest 
degree of excellence. In December the birds had 
fattened and become more active, passing up and 
down the bay to and from their feeding-grounds 
in morning and evening flights, keeping well off- 
shore in fair weather, leading over the points 
when driven by wind or storm. The more famous 
locations were the Narrows, Taylor's and Abbey 
islands on the western shore, Miller's Island, and 
Carroll's Island. When driven from the bay by 
constant shooting, they resorted to the larger 
rivers. Blinds and decoys in all possible loca- 
tions, batteries and sink-boxes offshore, awaited 



130 The IVater-fowl Family 

them. They were drifted on when gathered on 
their feeding-grounds. At night bedded on the 
resting-places, the rafts of ducks were shot into 
by means of large-bore guns or cannon as they 
huddled together in front of the gunner's light. 
Occasionally they were taken in gill nets offshore. 
Eagerly sought for and greedily hunted, killed by 
every device known to man, this bird, the noblest 
of all our water-fowl, has been driven from its old 
haunts; and the Chesapeake Bay knows it no 
more. 

The few flocks occasionally seen in the vicinity 
now bear sad testimony of the wanton destruction 
of the past. Farther south, along the coast, 
canvas-back still winter in some numbers, but 
are seldom killed in any quantity, and then only 
in heavy weather, or when ice holes afford a 
limited feeding-ground. A few are found on the 
James River. In 1893, when scarcely a canvas- 
back was killed on the Chesapeake, there were 
large flocks on the James. They often bedded 
in the coves across the river from Westover, in 
fair weather keeping well out in the centre, flying 
up and down morning and evening. In a heavy 
snowstorm on Christmas day we shot them from 
brush blinds on the south shore. There are few 
more stirring sights than flocks of canvas-back 
leading up within range of the blind, flying in 
wedge-shaped lines high in air; as they come 



Duck-shooting 131 

nearer, the white back and red neck mark them. 
They see the stool, and the flock wheels ; two or 
three leaders turn toward the decoys, and the 
others follow. When alarmed, they rise high up, 
and their powerful flight soon takes them beyond 
danger. If wounded, the bird is quick to dive, 
and swims a long distance under water, showing 
the top of the head or bill, and then only for an 
instant. 

In Currituck and Pamlico sounds the canvas- 
back are rarely shot from the points of marsh, but 
almost entirely from batteries and bush blinds 
far offshore. Nowadays a bag of ten or fifteen 
ducks represents a good day's shooting. Formerly, 
all through the winter and well into the spring, 
the canvas-back remained in the waters of Virginia 
and North Carolina, leaving for the north in April. 

The breeding range is from Oregon and the 
northern portions of the western United States to 
the northern limits of the fur countries on the 
interior bodies of water. It has been found nest- 
ing in the mountainous portions of northern 
Oregon and California, Montana, and Dakota, in 
the Devil's Lake region, on the Anderson and 
Fraser rivers, and in numbers on the Yukon. 
Arriving at its breeding-ground late in May, by 
the middle of June incubation is well started. 
The nest is made from rushes and grass built up 
from shallow water, and is situated in clumps of 



132 The PVater-fowl Family 

rushes out in the sloughs, its top being canopied 
over with the same material. The eggs are de- 
posited before construction is complete, and are 
from seven to ten in number. Occasionally the 
eggs of the red-head and ruddy duck are found in 
the same nest. Soon after incubation has been 
begun the male leaves the duck and, seeking the 
seclusion of larger neighboring bodies of water, 
moults, losing the characteristic attire of spring, 
the plumage at this time being a dull brown. 

The ducklings are hatched in July, and quickly 
become expert in hiding and diving, soon leaving 
the more protected resorts of their nesting-places. 
When full-fledged they frequent more open water 
and the deeper, larger lakes. Here they are 
joined by other families, and the flocks form. 
With the cold nights and first frosts of early fall 
they push along, and by late September the 
advance flight is in evidence along the northern 
boundaries of Montana and Dakota. These 
birds are nearly all females and young. It is 
early October before we see the flocks of old 
birds. The migration from the North is over the 
watercourses of the interior, until near the boun- 
daries of the United States ; here some birds 
strike the Pacific shore, a large body pass over 
the prairie to Texas and Mexico, wintering on 
the larger inland bodies of water and along both 
coasts to Central America. Another smaller 



Duck-shooting 133 

flight Is over the Great Lakes to the Chesapeake 
and south. This is the course of those birds 
wintering on the Atlantic Coast. 

North of the Chesapeake, on the Atlantic, the 
bird has always been scarce. It is now occasion- 
ally killed on Long Island by battery gunners. 
A few are sometimes taken in Barnstable County, 
southeastern Massachusetts. Dr. Woods has 
obtained them on the Connecticut River. Two 
adult males were brought to me, killed on Lake 
Saltonstall, near New Haven, December 25, 1901. 

Throughout the West canvas-back have been 
driven from the thickly populated states ; on the 
rivers and lakes of Illinois they no longer abound. 
In the prairie states, and in Colorado and Cali- 
fornia, however, they are still killed in consider- 
able numbers. They are not superior for the table 
to many of the commoner ducks. 

In the spring of 1901, late in April, I was sur- 
prised to see several flocks of canvas-back near 
Tampico, Mexico. They were wilder than the 
other ducks, but allowed us to approach surpris- 
ingly near. Throughout the interior of Mexico 
this bird is common, but does not frequent the 
smaller sloughs with the thousands of other duck, 
choosing the small lakes more inaccessible from 
the ranches. 

The canvas-back is known *by the names white- 
back, bull-neck, and in New Orleans, cheval. 



134 The IVater-fowl Family 

SCAUP DUCK 
{^Aythya rnarila) 

Adult male — Head, neck, front of back and breast, black; head 
and neck with metaUic green reflections ; lower part of back 
and rump and under tail-coverts, black ; middle of back, scap- 
ulars, and anal region, white with black undulations ; wing- 
coverts, black, finely barred with white ; speculum, white, bounded 
in front by black line ; tail, blackish brown ; belly and sides, 
white ; bill, blue-gray ; nail, black ; iris, yellow ; legs and feet, 
plumbeous. 

Male in suuwier — Similar to female, but head blacker and back 
whiter. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches; wing, 8.40 inches; culmen, 2 
inches; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Adtilt female — Forehead and sides of head at base of bill, white; 
rest of head, neck, and breast, brown; upper parts, dusky brown ; 
back and scapulars, undulated slightly with white ; wings, brown, 
with white speculum ; belly, white ; under tail-coverts and anal 
region, dark brown ; iris, bill, and feet, as in the male. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches; wing, 8.40 inches; culmen, 
1.75 inches ; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Downy yonng — Similar to the Lesser Scaup. 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number, pale olive-gray, and measure 2.55 
by 1.70 inches. 

Habitat — Northern parts of northern hemisphere, breeding far 
north, and, in the eastern hemisphere, wintering south to the 
Mediterranean, Japan, China, and Formosa. In North Amer- 
ica, breeds from the Magdalen Islands, Manitoba, Assiniboia, 
Alberta, and British Columbia, possibly Michigan, Minnesota, 
Iowa, and Oregon, north to Labrador, Hudson Bay, probably 
Fort Anderson, Kotzebue Sound, and the Yukon Delta, Alaska, 
and the Aleutian Islands. Winters from Maine to Florida and 
the Bahamas on the Atlantic Coast ; on the Gulf Coast ; and from 
Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, south to Guatemala ; and on 
the Pacific Coast on the Aleutian Islands, and from British 
Columbia to California. Rare in the migrations in Newfound- 
land and Nova Scotia. 



Duck-shooting 135 

While the greater broadblll, or scaup, occurs 
throughout North America, it is especially a bird 
of the eastern coast, Chesapeake Bay marking 
the common limit of its southern range. The 
close relationship between the greater and the 
lesser broadbill has led to considerable confusion 
as regards the distribution of species. South of 
the Chesapeake Bay and inland it is replaced by 
the lesser variety. The summer home of the 
broadbill is far in the North, along the farther 
shores of Hudson Bay, Greenland, and Alaska. 
The nest has been taken as far south as the 
Magdalen Islands. It is roughly constructed of 
grass and drift placed in a mere depression on 
the ground. The eggs are covered well with down 
and cared for entirely by the duck, for during 
incubation the drakes associate by themselves. 
Late October and early November mark their 
arrival on the New England and Long Island 
coasts ; the first small flocks are swelled in size by 
newcomers, and the late fall finds them well estab- 
lished in winter quarters. They soon accustom 
themselves to surroundings and become wild and 
hard of approach, in calm weather gathering in 
vast flocks far out in the bay, passing to and from 
their feeding-grounds in a characteristic undulat- 
ing line, — if near land or disturbed by boats, 
keeping high in air. Under these circumstances 
batteries anchored out in the bay along their line 



136 The IVater-fowl Family 

of flight bring the smaller flocks in range. Some- 
times they drop to the stool when high overhead, 
coming up to the decoys gracefully and tumbling 
over themselves to settle among the wooden con- 
gregation. If wounded, they dive almost at the 
flash, and swim a long distance under water, 
appearing at the surface for an instant with just 
the head showing. 

When stormy weather protects them from con- 
stant gunning, they gather in vast flocks seeking 
more sheltered water. The first clear day may 
offer the opportunity. Be early. As the duck- 
boat is quietly pushed out of the harbor to the 
outer islands the birds seem in thousands, rising 
in front and on all sides, leaving the water with a 
loud splashing ; then the whir of wings, and they 
are gone. Now the first streak of light shows 
the black shadow of a flock close by. The first 
impulse is to shoot, the next to reach the blind. 
It seems an age before the decoys are set and 
everything is ready. Presently a flock leading by 
the decoys calls for attention. It is still a little 
early, and the stools hardly show ; now four birds 
hoverinsf in front call forth the first two shots. The 
silence is broken, flock after flock of frightened, 
bewildered birds leave the water, circling, then 
passing on. Soon the wavy lines far off mark 
the departed ; but your patience is not long taxed, 
a small flock return and presently another, follow- 



Duck-sbooting 137 

ing each other in the same precise line. The 
shooting is constant, and the gun grows hot ; but 
pick up your birds quickly, and don't waste time, 
for the flight is thick and fast, but short, and 
broadbill do not make mistakes often. 

This bird is highly prized by gunners of the 
eastern coast, and when vegetable matter and the 
various grasses found on the flats and bars com- 
prise its diet, the flesh is excellent. Often the 
food consists of barnacles and Crustacea, which 
impart a slightly fishy flavor to the flesh. 

This species is also known as greater scaup 
duck and bluebill. 

LESSER SCAUP DUCK 
{Aythya affinis) 

Adult male — Head, neck, and front of body, black, with metallic 
purple reflections on head ; back and scapulars, white, barred 
with narrow black lines ; wing-coverts, dusky, mottled with 
white ; speculum, white ; rump and upper tail-coverts, black ; 
breast and abdomen, white ; sides, white, marked with dusky ; 
tail, black ; bill, slate ; nail, black ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, 
black ; iris, yellow. 

Measitrements — Length, i6 inches ; wing, 8 inches ; tail, 3 inches ; 
tarsus, 1.30 inches; culmen, 1.70 inches. 

Adult female — Space at base of bill, white ; rest of head and neck, 
brown ; upper back and breast, umber-brown ; wings, dark 
brown ; speculum, white ; under parts, white ; rump and upper 
tail-coverts, dark brown ; bill and feet, slate ; webs, dusky ; 
iris, yellow. 

Measurements — Similar to male. 

Downy young — Upper parts, dark brown, with buflf spots on side of 
back and rump ; lower parts, buff; forehead and side of head, 



138 The PVater-fowl Family 

brownish buff; narrow brown ring across neck in front connect- 
ing with brown of upper parts. 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number, pale gray buff tinged with olive, 
and measure 2.30 by 1.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illi- 
nois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Assiniboia, and Alberta, and 
probably New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Wyo- 
ming, north to Hudson Strait, Fort Anderson, and the Yukon 
Valley, Alaska, and probably in Greenland. Winters from New 
Jersey, rarely Massachusetts, Lake Erie, Louisiana, Texas, Colo- 
rado, Arizona, Nevada, and British Columbia, south to the West 
Indies, Guatemala, and Lower California. Not known to breed 
in New England, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. Acci- 
dental in Europe. Occurs in Bermuda. 

For a long time this species was not differenti- 
ated from the preceding, and considerable con- 
fusion resulted. It can readily be distinguished 
by its smaller size, the bill and feet being notice- 
ably smaller and especially the breadth of the 
nail of the bill. The head has a distinctly purple 
sheen instead of the green of the greater broad- 
bill. We find the lesser broadbill well dispersed 
throughout the United States ; in fall and winter 
occurring on inland lakes and rivers, where it 
often goes by the name of pond or creek broad- 
bill. It continues south through Mexico to Gua- 
temala, and is found along the South Atlantic 
Coast below the Chesapeake, common in Florida 
and the Gulf of Mexico. North of the Chesa- 
peake this bird is more rare. Most of the 
instances of its occurrence in New England 
that have come under the writer's observation 



Duck-shooting 1 39 

have been in the early fall, and then generally in 
the company of the greater scaup. 

The lesser broadbill breeds along the Yukon 
and Anderson rivers and through the Arctic 
regions north of Hudson Bay. The nest has 
been taken as far south as Dakota. Marshes and 
swamps of the fresh-water lakes close to the coast 
are the favorite resorts in the North. The nest is 
constructed in a rude manner of grass and rushes 
well lined with down. Early July is the breeding- 
time. According to MacFarlane, the male bird is 
found with its mate well along in the period of 
incubation. Early in October the first flocks 
appear within our boundary, and by November 
they are common throughout the West and along 
the southern coast. The lesser broadbill possesses 
all the habits of its near relative, but is found more 
often on the shallow bays and in smaller bodies of 
water. They come well to decoys and are occa- 
sionally baited by grain scattered on their feeding- 
ground. If these ducks have fed undisturbed for 
a short time under such circumstances, they 
return so persistently to the spot that a large 
proportion of the flock are killed. Curiosity, a 
trait associated with disaster, is not wanting in 
both varieties of broadbill. If the situation favors, 
a red flag is gently waved from a place of conceal- 
ment. The flock at once notices it, the birds 
become restless, soon one or two swim near, 



I40 The Water-fowl Family 

others follow, and if the tolling is carefully man- 
aged they are brought within close range. 

On Currituck Sound in 1895, ^ saw several 
hundred broadbill killed in the vicinity, all of 
this species. They frequent the larger rivers 
near the coast. While hunting on the James 
River one day in December from a brush blind 
in one of the bays, I noticed a small flock of 
broadbill late in the afternoon leading up a creek 
near by. They were soon followed by another, 
and continually until dark, little bunches of these 
birds coming from the same direction in the same 
line, disappeared through the woods, evidently 
going to some pond farther in for the night. The 
lesser broadbill winters in Florida and along the 
Gulf Coast, and in places where protection is af- 
forded they become very tame, in some instances 
staying near the hotels and winter resorts. 

Their extensive distribution gives them a num- 
ber of different names, and this species is variously 
known as little broadbill, lesser scaup duck, little 
bluebill, little black-head, river broadbill, raft- 
duck. 

RING-NECKED DUCK 

(^Aythya collaris) 

Adult male — Head, neck, breast, upper parts, and under tail-coverts, 
black, with a sheen of reddish purple on the head, which has a 
slight crest ; a narrow chestnut collar around the middle of the 
neck ; a small triangular white spot on the chin ; wings, dark 
brown with a green gloss ; speculum, gray ; under parts, white, 



Duck-shooting 141 

the flanks and side waved with fine black lines ; bill, black, 
crossed by a bar of slate ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, dusky ; iris, 
yellow. 

Measurements — Length, 17.50 inches; wing, 8 inches; tail, 3.40 
inches; culmen, i. go inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Adult female — Top of head and back of neck, dark brown ; sides of 
head, grayish white spotted with dusky ; forehead, throat, and 
neck in front, yellowish white ; sides of neck, light brown ; back 
and wings, dark brown ; speculum, gray, edged with white ; 
lower back and rump, black; upper breast, sides, and flanks, 
yellowish brown ; lower breast and belly, white ; bill, iris, and 
feet, as in the male. 

Measurements — Length, 16 to 18 inches; wing, 8 inches; culmen, 
1.25 to 2 inches; tarsus, 1.30 inches. 

Male in breeding season goes into dull plumage resembling 
female. 

Downy young — Top of head, neck, and upper parts, dark grayish 
brown, rest of head, neck, and lower parts, pale buff"; a spot of 
light buff" in the centre of the back and on each side of the back 
and rump. 

Eggs — Nine to twelve in number, grayish or buff" in color, and 
measure 2.10 by 1.65 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, Utah, and Ore- 
gon, north to the Mackenzie River and probably Fort Anderson, 
and reported in summer at St. Michael, Alaska, and on the 
Aleutian Islands. Said to have bred in Maine. Winters from 
New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, British Columbia, and the Aleu- 
tians, south to the West Indies, Guatemala, and Lower Califor- 
nia. Occurs in migration north on the Atlantic to Newfoundland, 
Nova Scotia, and Quebec, and it has been recorded from Eng- 
land and Bermuda. 

The ring-neck as compared with other ducks is 
nowhere a common variety. It is most abundant 
through the Western states and Mississippi Valley, 
and is found sparingly along the Pacific Coast. 
On the Atlantic Coast it is taken most frequently 



142 The PVater-fowl Family 

in the Southern states. Occasionally there has 
been quite a spring flight through Illinois and 
the adjacent states, numbers finding their way to 
Chicago markets. In Maine and Massachusetts 
the ring-neck is sometimes taken. In southern 
New England it is rare ; and the writer knows of 
but two specimens killed in Connecticut : one was 
an adult male shot in the winter of 1886 in a small 
pond near New Haven, the other a young male 
killed on Lake Saltonstall, December, 1900. 
South it is more abundant, and on the large 
sounds off Virginia and North Carolina a few are 
shot, although the inland rivers and ponds seem 
to be their favorite abode. In Georgia, Florida, 
and along the Gulf of Mexico the ring-neck is 
found in small flocks. 

The breeding-ground is in the far North, but 
the bird has been found on our northern border, 
in Dakota and other of the Western states, and in 
Maine, in the vicinity of Calais, by Mr. George 
Boardman. Here in the summer of 1884 he took 
a nest with eleven eggs. It was placed among 
the reeds and thick grass on the banks of the St. 
Croix River, and was constructed of grass without 
down. The birds appear within the United States 
early in November, and while going far south, a 
few stay through the winter in the Northern states 
until the last ice holes freeze. They are seen in 
small flocks of from six to twelve, keeping pretty 



Duck-shoofmg 143 

much to themselves ; but sometimes they associate 
with the lesser broadbill, whose habits they much 
resemble. The ring-neck is a strong flyer, rising 
easily and quickly from the water, the flight hav- 
ing the wavy appearance of the broadbill. They 
come readily to decoys, but are a difflcult mark, 
and when wounded readily escape by diving, 
swimming well under water, showing just the 
head when coming to the surface. A low, guttural 
note is heard at times, but the birds are usually 
quiet. The flesh is excellent. Other names for 
this species are tufted duck, ring-bill bastard, 
ring-bill black-head, ring-neck scaup, ring-bill 
shaffer. 

AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE 
{Clangula clangula americana) 

Adult male — Head, occipital crest, and upper part of neck, glossy 
green with sometimes violet reflections ; a large, oval, white spot 
close to the base of bill on each side ; lower part of neck, upper 
part of back, greater wing-coverts, and under parts, pure white ; 
rest of upper parts, long scapulars, and some secondaries, black ; 
tail, ashy ; bill, black ; feet, yellowish ; webs, dusky ; iris, yellow. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 8.85 inches; tail, 4.50 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches; culmen, 1.60 inches. 

Adult female — Head and upper part of neck, brown ; a slight oc- 
cipital crest ; a narrow collar on neck of white, streaked with 
gray ; back, dark brown ; feathers on upper back, edged with 
gray ; those of upper tail-coverts, tipped with pale brown ; 
white on wings not so extensive as those on male ; tips of greater 
wing-coverts, black, forming a bar across the white ; a band of 
bluish gray across upper part of breast ; under parts, white ; 
thighs, dusky ; tail, brown ; bill, dull yellow, varied with brown ; 
iris, light yellow ; legs and feet, yellowish ; webs, dusky. 



144 The PVater-fowl Family 

Measurements — Length, 17 inches; wing, 8 inches; tail, 4.50 
inches; culmen, 1.30 inches; tarsus, 1.40 inches'; height of bill 
from point of angle to nearest cutting edge less than the dis- 
tance between the farthest edge of the nostril and nearest 
feathers at base of bill ; in distinction from female Barrow's 
golden-eye. 

Young male — Similar to female, but larger, and head not crested. 

Downy young — Upper parts, including the upper half of the head, 
sides, and thighs, deep, sooty brown, lighter on the jugulum. 
Four pair of grayish white spots, situated one on the posterior 
border of each wing, one on each side of the back, one on each 
side of the rump, one on each flank ; chin and throat, white ; 
remaining lower parts, grayish white. 

Eggs — Ten to seventeen in number, bright pea-green in color, 
measure 2.40 by 1.70 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Maine, New York, Minnesota, North Dakota, 
Montana, probably Colorado, Alberta, and British Columbia, 
north to Newfoundland, Labrador, Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie 
Delta, Yukon Valley, and Cook Inlet, Alaska. Winters from 
New Brunswick, Maine, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Nevada, British Columbia, 
and the Aleutian Islands, south to the West Indies, Mexico, 
and California. Occurs in Bermuda. 

We associate this sprightly duck with cold 
weather. The smallest ice holes, when all the bays 
and lakes are frozen, give it a chance for a liveli- 
hood. The golden-eye remains fat and contented 
under these circumstances, when other members 
of the duck family quickly show the results of 
starvation rations. This bird has a wide acquaint- 
ance; in summer the Eskimo, in winter the 
Florida Indian and the Mexican, with all varieties 
of gunners in between. The American golden- 
eye is common on the lakes and streams of the 



Duck-shooting 145 

Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Coast, throughout 
the interior, and along the Atlantic. 

The breeding range is from the northern 
United States to the Arctic sea. Small streams 
and lakes are their favorite resorts; here they 
select a hollow tree at a comfortable distance 
from the nearest water and raise their brood. 
The female undertakes their entire charge and 
teaches them the golden-eye tricks. In the sum- 
mer of 1895, while travelling through the Cascade 
Range in British Columbia, we found nearly 
every small lake had its brood of golden-eye. It 
was early in August, and the birds were not 
fledged. The flocks were surprisingly large, in 
some instances consisting of twenty or more 
young ducks, and with them one old bird. 
When disturbed, the duck at once flew to the 
farther end of the pond, directing the course of 
the young ones by a guttural note, which I have 
never at other times heard from the golden-eye. 
They breed commonly as far south as northern 
New England, often frequenting the same lakes 
and streams as the American merganser. 

The golden-eye are in no hurry to leave their 
northern home, and we hardly see them on the 
coast before late October. They come in small 
flocks, keeping pretty much to themselves, and 
frequent the shallow, sandy bays, feeding on the 
flats and bars, often going up the rivers to spend 



146 The IVater-fowl Family 

the day; always wary and suspicious, remaining 
in open places, and seldom trusting themselves in 
range of land. These birds in the fall do not 
often come to decoys. When the harbors are 
frozen, and the current or tide leaves a little open 
water, the opportunity is afforded. There is no 
colder shooting. A small, white ice-boat is a 
convenient contrivance for this purpose. It is 
rigged on a sled and pulled out to the edge of the 
ice. The ducks are there and loath to leave. 
They begin to return almost before the few 
decoys are set and you have finished warming 
your fingers. There are few sounds more attrac- 
tive than their whistling wings, heard and not seen, 
in the cold gray of dawn, — so close overhead, 
you feel the birds must be in sight even in the 
dim light. All is ready; soon you see a flock 
high up, coming with speed. The flight is un- 
mistakable, and the white breasts of the birds 
noticeable. They circle and plunge into the 
decoys, but are up again and off almost before 
the shot. A frightened bird still sits among the 
stool ; you wait for him to follow his comrades, 
but he dives, coming up well out of range. 
They come in nicely, but the bag is small and 
well earned, for the cripples are difficult to kill, 
and the cold makes you slow. 

The golden-eye subsists on a variety of food, — 
small shellfish and Crustacea and various vege- 



Duck-shooting i47 

table matter, in the South delighting in the rice- 
fields; hence the character of the flesh varies. 
Among the wildest of our ducks, they are quick 
to appreciate protection. On the Charles River, 
flocks of these birds are seen through the winter 
feeding in close proximity to the docks and 
bridges of Boston. 

The golden-eye has a variety of names : whis- 
tler, whistle wing, whiffler, spirit duck, bullhead ; 
in Louisiana, plongeur. 

barrow's golden-eye 

{Clangida islandica) 

Adult male — lifa.6., crest, and upper part of neck, glossy bluish 
black with blue reflections ; a crescentric-shaped white patch at 
the base of bill ; lower part of neck and under parts, pure white ; 
upper parts, black ; outer row of scapulars, with oblong white 
spots ; a lengthened white patch on the wing ; bases of greater 
wing-coverts, black, forming a bar across the white portion ; 
feathers of sides and flanks, white with outer edges black ; tail, 
black ; bill, black ; feet and legs, orange, with dusky webs ; 
iris, yellow. 

Measitrements — htngXh, 22 inches; wing, 9 inches; tarsus, 1.50 
inches; culmen, 1.30 inches; height of bill, at base, i inch. 

Adult female — Head and neck, brown, darkest on top of h^d and 
back of neck ; a narrow white collar at base of neck ; upper 
parts, brownish black; feathers of back, edged with gray; 
white patch on wing, crossed by black bar ; upper part of breast 
and sides, gray ; rest of under parts, white ; bill, horn color ; 
legs and feet, pale orange ; webs, dusky. 

Measurefnents — Length, 20 inches ; wing, 8.40 inches ; culmen, i .50 
inches ; height of bill at base, .90 inch. 

This bird resembles the female of the common golden-eye, but 
is somewhat larger. According to Ridgeway, it can be distin- 



148 The PVater-fowl Family 

guished by the height of the maxilla as compared with the dis- 
tance from the feathered edge at base of the bill to the anterior 
edge of nostril. In the female Barrow's golden-eye these 
measurements should be equal. 

Downy young — Top and sides of head, brown; neck, chest, and 
sides, pale ; throat and under parts, white. 

Eggs — Six to ten in number, grayish pea-green in color, and meas- 
ure 2.40 by 1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Quebec and Washington, the mountains 
of Oregon, south in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, north 
to Chilkat Peninsula, Alaska, Fort Anderson, and southern 
Greenland, and in Iceland. Winters chiefly north of the United 
States, from southern Greenland and southeastern Alaska, rarely 
to North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, South 
Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and California. Acci- 
dental in Europe. 



The Barrow's golden-eye is one of our rarer 
ducks. The full-plumaged male is a showy bird, 
the soft steel-blue sheen of his crest and the 
bright black and white of the back being a 
marked contrast to the brown and white of his 
mate. This bird ranges from Arctic America to 
the northern border of the United States and 
breeds throughout these limits. We see the 
Barrow's golden-eye among the lakes and rivers 
of the Rocky Mountains, from Colorado north 
through British Columbia to Alaska. The breed- 
ing-ground is often in mountainous districts, the 
bird choosing the hollow of a tree near some 
stream or lake for its nesting-place. In the 
writer's collection a set of eggs from Iceland 
bears the following label : " Myvatis, June 23, 



Diick-shoding 149 

1889, nest composed of down and feathers, located 
in a box fastened to a tree." In Iceland the bird 
is not uncommon and often breeds in holes in the 
ground at a considerable depth, where trees are 
scarce. Mr. Edwin Carter of Colorado probably 
first discovered the nest and eggs in this country. 
In 1876 he took a set of ten, and since then has 
repeatedly seen the young brood. On the Atlantic 
coast the Barrow's golden-eye is taken regularly 
in Maine and New Brunswick. Professor D. G. 
Elliot at times has found it numerous on the St. 
Lawrence near Ogdensburg, and has here killed 
it over decoys. Both species were associated on 
the river, the flight being up and down in the 
direction of Lake Erie, the birds stopping occa- 
sionally in the coves to feed, and floating down 
with the current.^ 

On the coast of Massachusetts the Barrow's 
golden-eye is rare. In the collection of Mr. 
William Brewster are several birds from Boston 
markets killed in the vicinity. Along the southern 
New England coast it is seldom met with, and I 
have never seen a specimen from Long Island 
Sound, although from descriptions of gunners 
there is no doubt it occasionally occurs. The 
bird is possessed of all the habits of the common 
golden-eye, flying high and fast, with the same 
shrill, whistling flight. It is a quick diver, dis- 

1 "Wild Fowl of North America," by D. G. Elliot. 



I50 The Heater-fowl Family 

appearing often at the flash ; when wounded 
swimming a long distance under water, appear- 
ing a second at the surface, and disappearing 
before there is time to raise a gun. The flesh, 
like that of the common golden-eye, is frequently 
fishy, although when the birds have frequented 
fresh-water ponds and lakes this flavor disappears. 
The species is known also as the Rocky Moun- 
tain golden-eye or garrot. 

BUFFLE-HEAD 

{Charitonetta albeola) 

Adult male — A broad, white band extends from behind and beneath 
the eye to the occiput ; rest of head and whole of neck, glossed 
with green, violet, and bronze reflections ; the feathers of the 
head are puffed out on sides and back ; lower part of neck, entire 
under parts, a large patch on wing composed of wing-coverts, and 
outer webs of secondaries, and scapulars, white ; primaries, black ; 
back and rump, black, fading into pearl-gray of the upper tail- 
coverts ; tail, dark gray, with white edges ; bill, slate ; nail, black ; 
iris, dark brown ; legs and feet, flesh color. 

Measurements — Length, 14.50 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; culraen, 
1.20 inches ; tarsus, 1.20 inches. 

Adult fetnale — Head and neck, dusky ; top of head, blackish, a white 
stripe on cheeks and ear-coverts ; upper parts, blackish gray, 
grading into black on the rump ; apical half of outer webs of 
secondaries, white, forming speculum; upper parts of breast, 
sides, anal region, and lower tail-coverts, dull gray ; rest of 
under parts, white ; tail, gray ; bill, dusky ; legs and feet, slate ; 
webs, dusky ; iris, brown. 

Measurefuents — Length, 13.50 inches; wing, 5.90 inches; culmen, 
I inch; tarsus, i.io inches. 

Plumage of male in the first year resembles female, but the 
feathers of the head are more puffed. 



Duck-shooting 1 5 1 

Eggs — Seven to ten in number, of a grayish white color, with a 
tinge of green, and measure 2 by 1.45 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from New Brunswick, Maine, Ontario, Manitoba, 
Montana, Alberta, and British Columbia, and probably Michigan, 
Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, and Colorado, north to Labrador, 
Greenland, Hudson Bay, the lower Mackenzie, and the upper 
Yukon. Winters from New Brunswick, western New York, 
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, 
British Columbia, and the Aleutian Islands, south to Cuba, 
Mexico, and Lower California. Recorded also from Nova Scotia 
and Newfoundland, Bermuda, Great Britain, the Alaskan coast 
of Bering Sea, Bering Island, and Hawaii. 

This sprite is always a pleasure to see. The 
male with his buffle head of white and violet 
can well be proud of his plumage. Lightly and 
gracefully floating on the water's surface, if occa- 
sion requires he dives like a flash or springs into 
the air with the speed of a teal. The female is 
plain and insignificant, except in her power to get 
through space. The species is widely distributed 
through North America, its range extending to 
the Arctic region. In the North, on account of 
its traits, this species is known as spirit duck. 

The breeding-ground is as far south as the 
northern border of the United States, and from 
Alaska to Greenland. The nest has not been 
found often. It is generally in the hole of a tree 
near the water's edge. Mr. Lockhart describes a 
nest from the Yukon River. It was in the 
hollow of a rotten stump near the bank, and con- 
tained nine eggs. The same gentleman discov- 



152 The Water-fowl Family 

ered a second nest on the Black River, June 7. 
It was in the hollow of a poplar tree some twenty 
feet from the ground. The hole was dug out like 
a woodpecker's, an arm's length in depth, and 
contained ten eggs. In early October we find 
them generally distributed throughout the United 
States. The females and young predominate at 
first. Inland, the smaller bodies of water, lakes, 
and rivers are their favorite haunts. They are 
seen usually in small flocks by themselves, diving 
near the shore for their food, and can readily be 
approached. Generally one or two birds remain 
on the surface, ready to give an alarm, and if 
startled they take quick leave. The butterball is 
common on both coasts, and is fond of shallow, 
sandy bays, frequenting the tide-rips and mouths 
of rivers, remaining through the coldest weather. 
A few years ago this bird was common all along 
the New England shore. Large numbers wintered 
on the Sound between New Haven and Stratford, 
where the coast is shallow and sandy, early in 
the morning leaving the outer flats and feeding up 
the rivers. It was a simple matter to shoot them 
on their flight, as they came over the bars, low 
down and usually in the same course. Recently 
the butterball seem to have largely disappeared 
from the New England coast, though still common 
on bays farther south. They are conspicuous as 
being the least, but by no means last, of our wild- 



Diick-shooting 153 

fowl family. The other common names for this 
species are butterball, butterbox, dipper, spirit 
duck, marionette. 

OLD-SQUAW 
{Harelda hyemalis) 

Adult male in winter — Lores, cheeks, and orbital regions, mouse- 
gray ; rest of head, eyelids, lower part of neck, upper part of 
jugulum, and back, white ; side of neck, black, ochraceous pos- 
teriorly ; middle of back, rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, wings, 
whole of breast, and upper abdomen, black or brownish black; 
scapulars, pearl-gray ; secondaries, brown ; tail, four median 
feathers, black, with central pair much elongated ; rest of tail, 
white ; under parts, white ; bill black at base, terminal portion 
yellow, band of pink between ; legs and feet, pale slate, webs, 
dusky; iris, light brown. 

Measuretnents — Length, 21 to 23 inches, according to elongation of 
central tail feathers ; wing, 8.90 inches ; culmen, i.io inches ; tar- 
sus, 1.35 inches ; middle tail feathers, 8 to 9.50 inches. 

Adult female in wi?tter — Head, neck, and lower parts, mostly white ; 
forehead and crown, dusky ; chin, throat, and face, tinged with 
gray ; upper parts, dusky brown ; tail, grayish brown, central 
pair of feathers not elongated. 

Measiirements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 8.25 inches; culmen, 
I inch; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Adidt male iti summer — Lores, cheeks, and sides of forehead, mouse- 
gray; eyelids and a line passing over the eye to ear-coverts, 
white ; rest of head, neck, and upper parts, sooty black ; the 
feathers on upper part of back and the scapulars, variegated 
with brown ; wing-coverts, brownish black ; secondaries, gray 
on outer web, edged with white ; four centre tail feathers, black, 
with middle pair greatly elongated ; breast and upper abdomen, 
brownish black ; rest of under parts, white ; feet and iris as 
described above. 

Adidt female in sum?ner — Head and neck grayish brown ; space 
around the eye and on each side of neck, grayish white ; upper 
parts, dark brown ; scapulars, light brown ; wings Like male ; 



154 The IVater-fowl Family 

upper tail-coverts, blackish ; tail, dark brown in centre, lighter 
at the edges ; central feathers not elongated ; upper part of 
breast and sides, light brown ; rest of under parts, pure white ; 
bill, dusky ; legs and feet, bluish gray ; webs, dusky ; iris, hazel. 

Voting — Plumage similar to female. In the young male the char- 
acteristic plumage of adult is more or less noticeable. 

Dow7iy young — Head and upper parts, brown, grayish markings 
near the eye ; a dusky stripe from the bill to back of head ; 
under parts, white, with a dark brown band across the breast. 

Eggs — Six to nine in number ; pale grayish green in color, and 
measure 2 inches by 1.40. 

Habitat — The northern hemisphere. In North America breeds 
from southern Labrador, Hudson Bay, the upper Mackenzie, 
the interior of Alaska, and possibly British Columbia, north to 
northern Greenland, Grinnell Land, the Arctic coasts and 
islands, the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, and the Aleutians and 
islands in Bering Sea, and accidentally in New York (?). Win- 
ters in southern Greenland, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
south regularly to North Carolina and the Great Lakes, and 
rarely to Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Colorado ; about the 
Bering Sea islands and the Aleutians, south regularly to Wash- 
ington, and rarely to San Diego Bay, California. 

The old-squaw brings up recollections of win- 
ter on the New England coast. Arriving in 
November, and often ushered in by a storm, 
these birds frequent the bays and sounds, becom- 
ing more and more abundant with increasing ice 
and freezing nights, gathering in vast rafts in our 
harbors if not too much molested. They are of 
a social disposition, and their musical note is 
always in evidence — the more the merrier. The 
honk^ honk a linky honk a link, tells of snow at 
Christmas. All winter long they stay, with 
milder weather leaving their nooks inshore and 



Duck-shooting 155 

resorting to the open water, feeding at a con- 
siderable depth on small molluscs and shellfish. 

The male old-squaw, in his winter plumage of 
black and white, with the white plumes of his 
wing and long tail feathers, is a very handsome 
bird. With spring this attire changes, and he 
assumes a dark dress, so that when it comes time 
for him to take leave, we scarce can recognize the 
same bird. While these birds are good examples 
of rugged New Englanders, we find them along 
the shallow bays of Long Island and New Jersey, 
even wintering in some numbers off the coasts of 
our Southern states. On the Pacific Coast they 
are found in Alaska during the summer, but do 
not occur in large numbers farther south. The 
bird is regularly met with on the Great Lakes, 
and is a straggler on the larger rivers. Arctic 
America is their breeding-ground, Greenland, 
Hudson Bay, the shores of the Arctic sea, and 
the Aleutian Islands. The shores and islands of 
fresh-water lakes, a short distance inland, are 
favorite sites. The nest is of grass, the duck lin- 
ing it with down as incubation progresses, and 
remaining the sole guardian of her brood. 

The writer saw, in the summer of 1886, a pair 
of old-squaws with their young ducks off Little 
Gull Island, in Long Island Sound. One of the 
old birds was doubtless a cripple. At the first 
approach of danger the brood would disappear, 



156 The Water-fowl Family 

diving in the open water. The flight is graceful 
and fast, but near the water, and they pass with- 
out hesitation over the line of boats anchored in 
the path. When startled by the gunner the flock 
bunches, and if this chance is waited for, several 
birds fall at a shot, the others often circling over 
the wounded. Few crippled ducks are quicker 
about getting under, and when once they appreci- 
ate their predicament, it is good-by, old-squaw; 
they dive at the flash, and you will save time by 
letting them go, and wishing them luck. These 
birds are easily decoyed, and, by imitating their 
note, are often turned from their course and 
called in. They drop among the stool with a 
sociable grunt. You wait for them to rise, but 
they may think differently, and just disappear, 
coming to the surface and taking wing out of 
range. As an edible bird the old-squaw is not a 
success, and the only excuse for shooting him is 
sport, pure and simple. The natives alongshore 
pick the bird, and their breast feathers have 
stuffed many a pillow down east. 

This species is known by various names: 
south southerly, oldwife, old Indian, cockawee, 
coween, long-tailed duck, scolder. On mild days 
in spring and fall old-squaws sometimes " tower," 
collecting in large flocks, and flying so high in 
the air as to be hardly visible, then descending to 
the water with a rush, the whistling of their wings 



Duck-shooting 157 

being audible from a distance. This habit is 
described by Mr. George H. Mackay in the Auk 
for October, 1892. 

HARLEQUIN DUCK 
{Histrionicus histrionicus) 

Adult male — Loral region, with a stripe on each side of crown, a 
round spot near the ears, a long, narrow stripe on each side of 
upper hind neck, a narrow collar around lower part of neck, a 
broad bar across sides of breast in front of wing, middle of 
scapulars, portion of tertials, a round spot on lesser wing- 
coverts, tips of some of greater wing-coverts, and a round spot 
on each side of breast above and below, pure white ; under side 
of neck and bar on side of breast above and below the white, 
black ; centre of forehead, crown, and nape, black, bordered 
on each side with chestnut; rest of head and neck, dark 
slate, glossed with violet ; upper parts, leaden blue grading 
into blue-black on lower part of rump and upper tail-coverts ; 
wing-coverts, bluish slate; speculum, bluish violet; primaries 
and tail feathers, dusky black; breast, plumbeous, becoming 
bluish gray on abdomen, grading into black of the under tail- 
coverts ; sides and flanks, bright rufous ; bill, slate ; base, olive- 
gray ; tip, paler ; iris, hazel ; legs and feet, slate ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — \.&'a.g\h, 17.50 inches; wing, 7.80 inches; culmen, 
I inch; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and jugulum, grayish brown ; a white 
spot near the auricular region; the lores and sides of head, 
tinged with white; sides and flanks, grayish brown; bill and 
feet, slate ; webs, dusky ; iris, brown. 

Young male — Bright markings of the adult male, indistinct ; on the 
upper parts the white is not well defined and there is no blue- 
black ; the speculum, dull gray, without gloss ; lower parts, gray- 
ish white, each feather marked with a transverse spot of grayish 
brown; the sides and flanks, grayish brown, without rufous ; the 
collar around the lower neck, imperfect. 

Young female— Resembles the adult female, but the upper parts are 
darker and the lower parts more tinged with brown, 



158 The IVater-fowl Family 

Downy young — Top of head and upper parts, blackish brown; face 
and neck, white ; under parts and a spot on each wing and thigh, 
white. 

Eggs — Seven to ten in number, a dark brownish gray in color, and 
measure 2.20 by 1.70 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Newfoundland, Labrador, Fort Rae, and 
British Columbia, and south in the mountains to Colorado and 
California, north to Greenland, the Arctic Coast, and the Kowak 
and Yukon rivers, Alaska, and occurs all summer in flocks near 
the Pribilof and Aleutian islands. Breeds also in northeastern 
Asia and in Iceland. On the Atlantic Coast occurs south regu- 
larly in winter to Maine, and rarely to New Jersey ; in the inte- 
rior rarely to western New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, 
Missouri, and Colorado ; and on the Pacific Coast from the 
Aleutians to Monterey, California. Frequently taken in Europe 
and in Asia, south to Japan. 

Harlequin well named, this beautiful duck is 
seldom found within our country. The Alaskan 
Indian and Eskimo see him along their shores 
and inland lakes. There it breeds and lives, con- 
tent with winter's cold if left with open water, 
occasionally in severe weather coming within the 
limit of the United States. In Alaska the harle- 
quin breeds on the mountain streams of the inte- 
rior and early resorts to the islands of the coast. 
Here about the Aleutian Islands and at Unalaska 
they gather in large flocks, feeding on various 
shellfish and Crustacea. In June and through 
the summer they are found on the water near the 
ice and cliffs, floating gracefully on the surface, 
or flying low in lines, fitting ornaments of the 
wild coast. 



Duck-shooting 159 

Instances of this bird breeding in the United 
States are recorded. According to Mr. L. Bel- 
ding, several pair of this duck breed regularly on 
the Stanislaus River, Calaveras County, California. 
The bird was seen with young just able to fly 
near Chief Mountain Lake, Montana, by Dr. 
Coues. Professor D. G. Elliot saw a brood of 
eight or nine, in July, 1879, near Wenatchee, Wash- 
ington, on the upper Columbia, and he secured 
two of the birds. A very interesting instance of 
the breeding of a pair of harlequin in confine- 
ment, in the Melbourne Gardens, is published in 
the Zoologist of 1850, by Mr. J. J. Briggs. "Al- 
though kept in confinement for several years, 
they did not breed until 1849. In these grounds, 
at a considerable distance from the pool where the 
birds had lived, was an ice-house, against which 
some thatched sheaves had been placed. Upon 
these, sheltered from wet and sun, at a height of 
three feet, the pair nested and laid eight eggs, 
which were hatched about the middle of June. 
When the female left the eggs she carefully cov- 
ered them with down. After feeding she was 
escorted back to the nest by the male, who, 
however, took no share in sitting on the eggs. 
Several of the young ducks were reared." 

Small, swift-running streams are favorite loca- 
tions for the nest, which is placed on the bank, 
or sometimes in the hollow of a tree. In Iceland, 



i6o The Water-fowl Family 

where this bird is found, nests have been taken 
from holes in the bank. The little brood frequent 
the rapids and pools, playing about and diving 
much after the manner of a dipper. In the 
winter the harlequin occurs in small numbers off 
the coast of Maine, rarely straggling to Massa- 
chusetts. It is taken occasionally in Puget Sound. 
The bird is a quick, strong diver, and readily 
escapes if wounded. The flesh is unfit for the 
table. Lord and lady, and painted duck, are 
other names applied to this species. 

LABRADOR DUCK (pIED-DUCK) 
{Camptolaitnus labradorius) 

Adult male — Head, neck, breast, scapulars, and wings, except pri- 
maries, white ; stripe on crown and nape, ring around lower 
neclc, back, rump, primaries, upper tail-coverts, tail and entire 
lower parts, black ; the tail has a grayish tinge ; cheeks, 
yellowish white; long scapulars, pearl-gray; bill, black, slate 
along base of culmen, and orange at base and along edges 
of maxilla and mandible ; eye, reddish brown ; feet and legs, 
slate. 

Measurements — Length, 23 inches ; wing, 8.70 inches ; culmen, 
1.75 inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Adult female — General plumage, uniform brownish gray; tertials, 
silvery gray, edged with black ; secondaries, white, edged with 
black. 

Measurements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 8.40 inches; culmen, 
1.60 inches; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Young male — Similar to adult female, with chin and throat white, 
and in some specimens breast also ; greater wing-coverts are 
also white. 

Habitat — Formerly the northern Atlantic Coast and recorded from 
Hudson Bay; supposed to breed in Labrador, and wintering 



Duck-sbooting i6i 

from Nova Scotia south to Chesapeake Bay, and occurring in 
the interior as far as Montreal ; now probably extinct. The 
Michigan record was a mistake. 

While always a rare bird, previous to 1855 the 
Labrador duck was taken frequently along the 
Atlantic Coast as far south as Long Island and 
New Jersey. It was supposed to breed off the 
coast of Labrador and in the islands in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. In 1833 John Audubon was 
shown deserted nests of this bird on the top 
of low tangled fir-bushes, on a visit to Blace 
Sablon. That these nests belonged to the Labra- 
dor duck, however, we may be permitted to doubt. 
The nest and eggs are unknown, and probably no 
man except a northern savage has ever seen them. 
Nearly all the specimens have come from the 
Nova Scotian, New Brunswick, and New England 
coasts, although at times the birds were noticed 
in New York markets, probably from the vicinity 
of Long Island and New Jersey. These speci- 
mens were mostly females and young males, the 
adult male being seldom met with. After i860 
the occurrence of the bird became exceedingly 
rare, and the last one recorded was killed by Mr. 
Cheney in 187 1, near Eastport, Maine. In 1843 
this bird was rare on Long Island, where it was 
known as the skunk-duck, from the black and 
white appearance of the male. The historic pair 
killed by Daniel Webster, at Vineyard Haven, 

M 



1 62 The IVater-fowl Family 

and by him presented to Audubon, are now in 
the Smithsonian Institution. The most beauti- 
ful collection of these birds in existence is in the 
New York Museum, where one case contains five 
finely mounted specimens, two of which are adult 
males. They were collected by Professor D. G. 
Elliot 

The Labrador duck was a strong flyer and 
diver, apparently able in every way to protect 
itself against the depredations of enemies, yet it 
has passed into extinction and no satisfactory 
reasons can be given for its disappearance. The 
flesh was coarse and fishy. Probably the breed- 
ing area was limited, and natural causes effected its 
destruction. 

steller's duck 

{^Eniconetta stellert) 

Adult male — Greater part of head and upper neck, glossy white; 
lores and tuft of feathers on occiput, olive-green ; chin and 
throat, black ; lower part of neck, middle of back and rump, and 
upper tail-coverts, glossy black ; long scapulars, blue-black on 
outer, and white on inner web ;, other scapulars bend down 
across the wing ; wing-coverts, anterior scapulars, and sides of 
back, white ; speculum, blue-black, with white bar ; under parts, 
light chestnut, becoming darker on the abdomen ; a round, 
black spot on each side of the breast in front of wing-coverts ; 
anal region and under tail-coverts, black ; tail, brownish black ; 
bill, slate, yellowish at tip ; iris, dark brown ; legs and feet, 
brownish. 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches; wing, 8 inches; tarsus, 1.35 
inches; culmen, 1.45 inches. 

Adult female — Head and neck, reddish brown, speckled with dusky ; 
upper parts, dusky brown, feathers tipped with lighter ; wings 



Duck-shooting 163 

dusky; tips of greater coverts and secondaries, white, forming 
two narrow bars across the wing ; speculum, purplish brown ; 
upper parts of breast, rusty, spotted with black ; bill, slate ; legs 
and feet, brownish ; iris, brown. 

Meastirements — Length, 17.50 inches ; wing, 8 inches; tarsus, 1. 15 
inches; culmen, 1.40 inches. 

Young male — Similar to the female, but the speculum is a dull gray- 
ish brown without any gloss ; the tertials slightly curved, with 
no white. 

Eggs — Six to ten in number, pale grayish green, and measure 2.30 
by 1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Found in summer in North America, in Greenland, Cum- 
berland, and from Point Barrow, Alaska, along the coast to the 
Alaskan peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, the Shumagins, and 
islands in Bering Sea. In winter, the islands in Bering Sea, 
the Aleutians south to the Kenai peninsula, and two taken in 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Probably breeds in most of its sum- 
mer range, as it does abundantly in Siberia. 

The chief claim this handsome bird has to a 
residence in North America is its presence on 
the Alaskan coast. It is common on the shore 
and islands of Bering Sea, and is occasionally 
numerous on the Aleutian Islands and near Una- 
laska. Closely related to the eiders, the Steller's 
duck is found in the Arctic regions associating 
with the king eider. Farther south it is some- 
times seen among flocks of Pacific eiders. They 
frequent the islands offshore, feeding in the tide- 
rips and at the mouths of rivers on various Crus- 
tacea and moUusks found in these waters. In 
May, as soon as the ice leaves the bays, the flocks 
separate into pairs. Later in the summer they 
are seen in large flocks, the young birds and 



1 64 The IVater-fowl Family 

females outnumbering the males. In fall and 
winter they frequent the open water, more to the 
south, but do not range below Alaska. North 
of Nome, along the Alaskan coast, the natives 
use the skins for ornaments in their dress. The 
breeding-grounds are on the northern shores of 
Siberia, and the islands of Bering Sea. A nest 
was found near Unalaska by Mr. Dall, in May, 
1872. It was on the ground, carefully concealed 
by slanting grass, and contained a single egg of 
a pale green color. Other ornithologists have 
doubted that this nest was correctly identified. 
The male, after incubation is established, loses 
his striking plumage, which he does not resume 
until the late fall. Like all the sea-ducks of its 
class, the Steller's duck is hardy and braves the 
severest storms and cold of the North, asking 
only the privilege of open water. 

Steller's duck is said to breed by tens of thou- 
sands on the Arctic coast of Siberia, and to ap- 
pear in large flocks off Bering Islands about 
November i. All winter they are common at 
the latter locality, frequenting the most rocky 
parts of the coast, where the breakers are most 
violent. In April their numbers are enormously 
increased, and flocks may be seen covering many 
acres of the sea ; but by the end of May all have 
disappeared. 



Duck-shooting 165 

SPECTACLED EIDER 
{Arctonetta fis chert) 

Adult male — Feathers projecting on the bill, yellowish white, grad- 
ing anteriorly into sea-green on the forehead and lores ; this 
color extends in a narrow line along the crown and in a rather 
broad stripe beneath the eye patch, broadening out on the thick 
occipital crest; the green is deepest on the lores, and on the 
stripe under the eye, and edge of crest ; a large circle of satiny 
white surrounds the eye, covering nearly all the side of the face 
and crown, bordered above and on either side by a narrow line 
of black ; chin, throat, neck, back, scapulars, and a large patch on 
each side of the rump, white; greater wing-coverts, primaries, 
and tail, dark brown ; lower back and rump, upper tail-coverts, 
and breast, dark plumbeous, grading into smoky black on lower 
breast ; bill, orange, palest on nail ; iris, brown, surrounded by 
a bluish ring ; legs and feet, olive-brown. 

Measurements — Length, 21.50 inches ; wing, 1 1 inches ; tarsus, i .90 
inches ; culmen, i inch. 

Adult female — Top and back of head, yellowish buff, streaked with 
dusky ; a broad stripe in front of eyes beginning at the corners 
of mouth and extending on to centre of head ; space around 
eyes and cheeks, buff, streaked with dusky ; upper parts, barred 
coarsely with brown and black, also breast and sides ; remainder 
of under parts, grayish brown ; bill, slate ; legs and feet, yellowish 
brown. 

Measurements — Length, 21 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; tarsus, 
1.75 inches; culmen, i inch. 

Eggs — Five to nine in number, grayish white, measure 2.55 by 1.75 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Alaskan coast, from the mouth of the Kus- 
kokwin to Point Barrow, and is said to be a common breeding 
resident on the Near Islands. Winter range unknown, probably 
the Aleutian Islands. 

With a limited range of some four hundred 
miles of Alaskan coast, an area exposed through- 
out its entire extent to the ravages of natives, the 



1 66 The Water-fowl Family 

spectacled eider is threatened with extinction, and 
is now rare in collections. Two specimens of this 
bird were secured for me by Mr. Dunham, in May, 
1902, both taken in the vicinity of St. Lawrence 
Island, the only ones seen on a collecting trip of 
two months. As soon as the ice leaves the bays 
and mouths of the rivers, the spectacled eider fre- 
quents the open water, along with the vast number 
of sea-ducks, waiting the opportunity of working 
north to the breeding-grounds. It is seen usually 
singly or in pairs, rarely in flocks. They frequent 
the muddy, shallow water and the extensive 
marshes that line the Alaskan coast of Bering 
Sea, in their habits resembling the commoner 
members of the eider family. Marshes on the 
islands or remote portions of the coast are their 
breeding-ground. The nest is of dry grass, and 
the duck is devoted to her charge. During the 
breeding-season the male, after the custom of 
other eider, moults into a brown plumage. Later 
in the summer the birds congregate in small 
flocks offshore. 

NORTHERN EIDER 

{Somateria mollissima borealis) 

Adult male — Top of head, black, with a white stripe in the centre 
of the occipital region ; nape and posterior area, sea-green ; 
cheeks, neck, chin, throat, back, smaller wing-coverts, and a large 
patch on each side of rump, pure white ; greater wing-coverts 
and secondaries, black ; primaries, brown ; lower part of back 
and rump, upper and under tail-coverts, and entire under parts 



Dtick-shooting 167 

below breast, deep black ; breast, cream color ; tail, pale brown ; 
bill, legs, and feet, olive-green ; a black V sometimes found on 
throat. 

Measurements — Length, 22 inches; wing, 12 inches; bill, culmen, 
1.90 inches; from tip to end of frontal angle, 2.75 inches; 
width of angle, .30 inch ; tarsus, i .80 inches. 

Adult fe7)iale — Head and neck, rufous brown, streaked with narrow 
black lines ; rest of plumage, chestnut-brown, the upper parts 
and breast barred with black ; the under parts, grayish, with 
dusky bars ; wing, like the back, with two whitish bars ; prima- 
ries and tail, blackish brown ; bill, legs, and feet like those of 
the male, but darker. 

Measurements — Similar to the male. 

Downy young — Plain, gray-brown, lighter beneath ; a distinct, light, 
superciliary stripe. 

Eggs — Four to six in number, pale green in color, and measure 3 by 
1.90 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Labrador north to Cumberland and the 
coast of Greenland, and probably in Hudson Bay. Winters in 
southern Greenland and south rarely to Massachusetts. 

The eider of the Atlantic Coast was for a long 
time supposed to be identical with the European 
bird, but two distinct species are now separated. 
A subspecies of the European, or common eider 
of northern Europe, ranges on the Atlantic Coast 
of North America from Greenland to the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, and the American eider, whose 
range is from Labrador to New England. To 
the native of the North the eider is essential, pro- 
viding him with food and raiment. The eggs and 
flesh are almost staple articles among the Eski- 
mos, while the down is part of his commerce. In 
various parts of Iceland and Norway these birds 



1 68 The Water-fowl Family 

breed in protected colonies and become exceed- 
ingly tame, the duck allowing herself to be raised 
from the nest while the down is removed. Incu- 
bation begins in June, and lasts about a month. 
In the late summer and early fall they congregate 
in large flocks offshore, frequenting the rocky 
islands. Winter drives them only to open water. 
I was told by natives that in the winter of 1900 
the outer water about the Magdalen Islands was 
frozen for a long distance from shore. Large 
flocks of these ducks congregated on the ice, 
where they were surrounded and killed with 
sticks. 

AMERICAN EIDER 
{Sotnateria dressert) 

Similar in plumage to the Greenland eider but differs in the bill. 
The frontal angles or naked portion running from the base of 
the bill on to each side of forehead in the American eider are 
broad, rounded, and much corrugated, while in .S". borealis 
molissima they are narrow and smooth. The female possesses 
the same characteristics. Sometimes a black V similar to that 
on the Pacific eider occurs on the throat of the males. 

Measurements are similar in the two species except the angle 
of bill, which in the present species is .45 of an inch in its 
greatest width. 

Eggs -T- Four to eight in number, olive-green in color, and measure 
3 by 1.80 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Newfoundland, and from Maine north on the 
coast to Hudson Strait, and south in Hudson Bay to James 
Bay, also on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Winters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the St. Lawrence River, 
and south on the Atlantic Coast, regularly to Massachusetts, 
rarely to Virginia ; and in the interior rarely to western New 
York, lUinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Colorado. 



Duck-shooting 169 

The American eider has a more southern range 
than the northern bird, nesting from the coasts of 
Labrador as far south as Maine, where it summers 
on the rocky islands off Grand Manan, unfortu- 
nately now in sadly diminished numbers. Far- 
ther north small islands off the coast, more rarely 
the mainland, afford sites for their breeding pur- 
poses. The nest is on the ground, and the scrub 
brush with which the shores are lined often gives 
it a shelter. In the fall flocks of these birds gather 
far out in the open water. The wild islands 
offshore give them a resting-place when they 
need one ; storms and cold do not worry, and 
few conditions prevent them from a living. Mol- 
lusks and various shellfish are their food. In 
winter we see them off Massachusetts, rarely 
farther south. The long lines of heavy, cumber- 
some birds, marked by the striking black and 
white of the male, are unmistakable. They keep 
close to the water with powerful flight and pass 
on their way, giving little heed to outsiders ; strong 
and difficult to bring down, the wounded bird 
readily escapes. Occasionally this species is found 
on the Great Lakes in cold winters. 

The American eider is usually very common 
in winter in the shallow waters of Nantucket 
Sound, and Mr. George H. Mackay states that 
on March 18, 1890, he saw near Nantucket a 
flock containing about twelve thousand of this 



170 The PVater-fowl Family 

species. Each morning at dawn the eiders appear 
in small flocks at their feeding-grounds to feast 
on mussels and other shellfish that abound in 
these waters, and in the evening fly out to sea 
to spend the night far from land. They are shot 
from stool, to which at times they will decoy well, 
or from points of land near which they are accus- 
tomed to pass in their morning and evening 
flights ; this latter plan often proving very suc- 
cessful in certain conditions of the weather, and 
especially just before they start north in April. 
At this time a roll or so of seaweed placed on the 
shore, or a few dead eiders, will lure the passing 
flocks ; at others, a single dead duck drifting into 
a flock will put all to flight. Sometimes they 
will swim in to the brant decoys at Monomoy; 
and then their great skill in diving is evident, 
a heavy charge fired at close range often failing 
to bag a bird. This bird is also known as the sea- 
duck, shoal-duck, wamp, and black and white coot. 

PACIFIC EIDER 
{^Somateria v-nigrd) 

Adult male — Similar in plumage to both the common and American 
eider, except that on the throat there is a long black V mark 
beginning on the chin and extending to a line intersecting the 
occiput. The bill differs from that of the other eiders, being 
broader and deeper through the base with shorter and more 
acute frontal angles. The color of the bill is reddish orange at 
the base, grading into pale orange at the tip ; iris, brown ; legs 
and feet, dusky orange. 



Duck-shooting lyi 

Measurements — Length, 22 inches ; wing, 11.50 inches ; culmen, 2.25 
inches. 

Adult female — Head, chin, throat, and neclt, pale brown with duslcy 
strealcs, darkest on the top of head. Upper parts rufous with 
black bars, the broadest on back ; lesser coverts, dusky with 
whitish tips ; primaries and secondaries, dark brown ; breast and 
sides, pale buff; under parts, grayish brown. 

Measurements — Wing, 11.50 inches; culmen, 1.75 inches; tarsus, 
1.75 inches. 

Dowtty young — Resembles that of the common eider. 

Eggs — Five to seven in number, light gray-green in color, and 
measure 3 inches by 2. 

Habitat — In North America, breeds on the Aleutian Islands and 
the coast of Alaska, from Cook Inlet north to Point Barrow, 
and eastward along the Arctic Coast to Franklin Bay. Winters 
in Bering Sea, about the Aleutian Islands, and probably the 
southeastern coast of Alaska ; recorded from Great Slave Lake, 
Hudson Bay, and Kansas. Breeds also on the Commander 
Islands and in northeastern Siberia. 

According to Nelson, these birds arrive off the 
shores near the mouth of the Yukon, about the 
middle of May, choosing for their nesting-places 
the marshy islands in the adjacent ponds. The 
nest is a depression on the ground and is com- 
posed of grass and seaweed. The eggs are six in 
number, the duck carefully covering them with 
down. During the period of incubation the males 
gather in flocks near by and moult, taking on a 
dull plumage. The young are hatched in early 
July, and until they are able to fly, in September, 
remain on the smaller bodies of water. Later 
they gather in large flocks offshore, in stormy 
weather seeking the protection of the islands and 



172 The IVater-fowl Family 

beaches, when they are frequently killed in large 
numbers by the natives, for they seem to hesitate 
to fly. Like the other members of its family, this 
species is a powerful diver and secures its food of 
moUusks and Crustacea in deep water. The flight 
is in lines low down, the bird uttering a guttural 
note. The natives depend at times on this bird 
for food and use the skins for various ornaments. 

KING EIDER 
{Somateria spectabilis) 

Adult male — Feathers surrounding the base of maxilla and a spot 
beneath and behind the eye, black ; a large, black, V-shaped 
mark on the throat ; entire top of head and upper part of nape, 
delicate pearl-blue; upper and frontal portion of the cheeks 
below the eye, sea-green ; remainder of head, neck, and middle 
of back, smaller wing-coverts, and a patch on each side of rump, 
white ; breast and jugulum, cream-buff; remainder of plumage, 
dull black ; bill, flesh color ; sides of upper mandible and soft, 
frontal lores, bright orange ; iris, yellow ; feet, dusky orange ; 
webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 23 inches; wing, 11 inches; culmen, i.io 
inches; tarsus, 1.75 inches. 

Adult female — Head, chin, and throat, dark buff, streaked with 
brown ; darkest on top of head ; breast and sides, light buff, 
with irregular markings ; greater coverts and secondaries, black, 
with whitish tips forming two narrow bars across the wing; 
rump and upper tail-coverts, dark buff, with black bars ; tail, 
black ; under parts, dark brown ; bill, greenish yellow ; legs and 
feet, ochre, with dusky webs ; iris, brown. 

Measuretnents — Length, 23 inches; wing, 10.75 inches; culmen, 
1.25 inches; tarsus, 1.75 inches. 

Downy young — Upper parts, dark brown, more rufous than in the 
other eiders ; cheeks, throat, and under parts, buff. Its mark- 
ings are more distinct than in the young of other eiders. 



Duck-shooting 1 73 

Eggs — Six to eight in number, olive-gray in color, and measure 
2.77 by 1.80 inches. 

Habitat — The northern part of the northern hemisphere. In 
North America, breeds from Labrador, rarely Quebec, along 
the coast north to northern Greenland and the Arctic coasts 
at Franklin Bay and Point Barrow. Winters in southern Green- 
land and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, south on the Atlantic 
Coast, regularly to New York, and rarely to Georgia ; in the 
interior rarely to western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wiscon- 
sin, Minnesota, Illinois, Ontario, and Alberta ; on the Aleutian 
•Islands, and recorded once from California. Occurs also in the 
interior of Alaska, and in Hudson Bay. 

Of all the eiders, the most beautiful. The 
plumage of the male king eider, with his lavender 
hood and delicate sea-green face, is unequalled, 
while the black V on his throat is the mark of 
an aristocrat. This variety keeps farther north 
than the commoner members of the family, and 
only in severe winters straggles within our reach. 
The most northern shores of both coasts are 
their resorts. In Alaska, St. Michael seems to 
be the southern limit. On the Atlantic the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. In summer, Greenland and 
the shores of the Arctic Sea are the haunts. 
Marshes adjacent to the shore are the sites 
selected to breed in. The nest is a mere de- 
pression on the ground, composed of grass and 
down. An adult male of this species in the 
writer's collection, killed in August off the north 
coast of Hudson Bay, has the brown feathers 
still in the head and breast, and is evidently just 



174 The IVater-fowl Family 

coming out of the summer plumage. When the 
young fly they congregate in flocks, often far off- 
shore. These birds are excellent divers and secure 
their food in deep water. In winter small numbers 
of king eiders straggle south as far as the New 
England coast. I have three specimens of this 
duck killed near New Haven, Connecticut, and 
know of several others taken in the same location. 
In January, 1901, a few of these birds were seen 
in Branford harbor, Connecticut. They remained 
by themselves, paying little heed to the scoters 
and other ducks. Eventually two were shot. The 
king eider occasionally visits the Great Lakes. 
Most of the specimens taken in these localities 
have been young birds of the first year. 

AMERICAN SCOTER 

(^Oidemia ajnericand) 

Adult male — Bill, black, with a bright orange base ; entire plumage, 
jet-black with a gloss on the head and neck ; iris, brown ; legs 
and feet, brownish black. 

Measurements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 8.75 inches; culmen, 
1.75 inches; tarsus, 1.80 inches. 

Adult female — Front, crown, and back of neck, dark brown ; rest of 
head and neck, lighter ; upper parts, sooty brown, with lighter 
tips to feathers ; under parts of a grayish cast ; bill, black, normal 
in shape ; legs and feet, olive-brown ; webs, black. 

Measjirements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 8.50 inches; culmen, 
1.70 inches; tarsus, 1.60 inches. 

Yo7tng males, of the first year, resemble the female ; later they are 
distinguished by occasional black feathers or patches of black 
in the otherwise brown plumage. 



Duck-shooting 1 75 

Downy young — Upper parts and breast, dark brown ; lower parts, 
lighter brown ; throat, white. 

Eggs — Six to ten in number ; ivory-white, with pinkish tinge ; and 
measure 2.60 by 1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Occurs in summer near Newfoundland and in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, and breeds probably in Labrador, and from Hud- 
son Bay north to Franklin Bay, and on the Bering Sea coast 
of Alaska north to Kotzebue Sound, on the Aleutians, and 
islands of Bering Sea. Winters about Newfoundland and 
from Maine south rarely to Florida ; in the interior rarely to 
western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Wyo- 
ming, and Louisiana, occurring also in Manitoba ; on the Aleu- 
tians, and islands in the Bering Sea, and south rarely to Santa 
Catalina Islands, California. 

The American scoter Is found throughout the 
same ranges as the white-winged scoter and surf 
duck, but nowhere in the same abundance. In 
full plumage, the male of this duck is readily dis- 
tinguished by the bright orange prominence at 
the base of the bill. The coloring of the young 
birds of all three varieties is more or less similar ; 
distinction, however, can readily be made by the 
differences in their bills. The immature birds of 
this species are common on Long Island Sound 
in early October, but seem to leave early. They 
are known as little gray coots, and many are killed 
every fall. The adult male in this locality is 
decidedly rare. On the south shore of Long 
Island they are more abundant and go by the 
name of butterbill or broadbill coot. They are 
considered good eating, although this reputation 



176 The Heater-fowl Family 

would probably tempt few besides the natives. 
The birds are seen in small flocks, flying close to 
the water, their characteristic whistle marking the 
flight. Anything in the shape of decoys attracts 
scoters, if only dark in color, and in certain loca- 
tions strings of bladders are employed for this 
purpose. This duck is a good diver and when 
wounded cares well for itself, easily escaping. 

Throughout the interior of the United States 
the American scoter is an occasional straggler, 
but is found regularly on the Great Lakes. The 
breeding-grounds are about Hudson Bay, and 
great numbers breed off the Alaskan coast. Here 
they frequent the small bodies of water a short 
distance inland. The nest is concealed by some 
overhanging shrub near the water's edge, and the 
eggs are carefully covered with down. At this 
time the males keep offshore in flocks, moulting 
and preparing for the return trip south, while the 
female brings up the young brood. 

The scoters are perhaps the least interesting 
of our sea-ducks ; yet the time will come, and in 
places is now at hand, when the duck-hunter will 
put up with despised " coots " or go without. 

THE VELVET SCOTER 

(Oidemia fusca) 

Adult male — Bill marked by a basal prominence of black ; edges 
of upper mandible with a streak on each side of nail, black; the 
sides orange ; nail and part of the ridge, a reddish flesh color ; 



Duck-shooting i y^j 

basal half of lower mandible, black, the remainder, lake-red ; 

general plumage, jet-black ; eyelids and spots under the eyes, 

white ; speculum, white ; iris, white ; legs and feet, carmine, 

with black webs. 
Measurements — Length, 22 inches ; wing, 11 inches; culmen, 1.60 

inches; tarsus, 1.90 inches. 
Adult female — General plumage, sooty brown, darkest above ; 

speculum, white, no white spot on head ; bill, dusky ; feet and 

legs, brownish orange ; webs, black. 
Young male — Resembles the female after the first year; however, 

has traces of the white spot under the eye, and the bill begins 

to assume the characteristics of the adult male, 
.^g^j — Eight to ten in number; white, measuring 2.90 by 1.90 

inches. 
Habitat — Northern portions of eastern hemisphere ; breeding from 

Iceland to Bering Straits, accidental in Greenland. 

This bird has all of the habits and characteris- 
tics of the white-winged scoter, closely resembling 
it in plumage, but is readily distinguished by the 
bill. 

The velvet scoter usually spends the winter in 
the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland and in the 
Baltic ; but when very cold weather turns their 
winter quarters to a mass of ice, they appear in 
myriads near Heligoland. There they gather 
with the black scoters and other sea-ducks on the 
lee of the ice-fields. Large and clumsy, like our 
scoters, they find it difficult to rise from the 
water except against the wind. They are willing 
to change their shellfish diet for something better 
when opportunity offers, Gatke tells us. A ship 
laden with small gray beans stranded on the 



178 The Water-fowl Family 

coast of Heligoland one stormy winter's night and 
went to pieces, its cargo being scattered on the 
bottom in about ten fathoms of water. Thou- 
sands of scoters fed on these beans until their 
flesh had entirely lost its fishy flavor, which ren- 
ders it, as a rule, unacceptable to a civilized pal- 
ate. These ducks are caught at Heligoland in 
nets set horizontally in shallow water so that 
they become bare at low tide. Stones are tied 
at the four corners, which keep the net a little 
below the surface as the rising tide elevates the 
corks. Scoters driving for their food through 
this net become entangled, drown, and are col- 
lected at the next low water. 

While the females are incubating the males 
gather in flocks, like our scoters, and frequent the 
waters of the bays. The nest is on the ground. 

WHITE-WINGED SCOTER 
(^Oidetnia deglandi) 

Adult male — A small spot underneath and behind the eye and the 
speculum of wing, white ; entire remainder of plumage, black ; 
flanks occasionally tinged with brown ; base of maxilla with 
elevated culmen, black ; sides, deep red, grading into orange on 
culmen ; nail, vermilion ; between nail and nostril, white ; iris, 
white ; legs and feet, scarlet, with joints and webs, black. 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 11 inches; culmen, 1.60 
inches; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and upper parts, sooty brown ; a spot 
behind the ear and speculum of wings, white ; under parts, 
grayish brown ; iris, dark ; legs and feet, brownish red ; webs, 
dusky. 



Duck-shooting 1 79 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; culmen, 
1.60 inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

Young male — Similar to female. 

Downy young — Upper parts, flanks, and ring on neck, dusky; 
lower parts, white. 

Eggs — Six to seventeen in number, of a pale cream color, and 
measure 2.70 by 1.90 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Labrador, probably Newfoundland and 
Quebec, North Dakota, Assiniboia, Alberta, and British Colum- 
bia, north to Fort Anderson, Point Barrow, Kotzebue Sound, 
and St. Michael, Alaska. Winters from Nova Scotia and Quebec, 
south rarely to Florida ; in the interior rather rarely in migra- 
tions or winter, to western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, 
Colorado, Wyoming, and Louisiana; winters also on Bering 
Island and the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to San 
Quentin Bay, Lower California. Occurs also in summer in 
northeastern Siberia, wintering in Japan and China. Birds of 
this species, probably barren, occur in America in summer as 
far south as Rhode Island, and Monterey, California. 

The most abundant and well known of all our 
sea-ducks, frequenting both coasts and also com- 
mon on the Great Lakes, especially Lake Michi- 
gan. The first small flocks of white-winged 
scoters appear off New England in early Sep- 
tember, and by the first week in October they 
are present in large numbers. Long Island 
Sound is a favorite resort, and in the fall we 
see countless numbers of them congregated in 
the open water offshore, diving a considerable 
depth for the small coot clams and shellfish 
which constitute their food, preferring the deeper 
water of the sound to the shallow bays. The 



i8o The IVater-fowl Family 

first aggregation is composed largely of young 
birds. On their arrival, tame, readily coming to 
decoys, hundreds are killed. The most popular 
method of shooting coots, for this is their Yankee 
name, is from a line of boats. The mouth of a 
harbor or some projecting point is the place 
selected, and with the first streak of light comes 
the shooting. A bunch of birds low down over 
the water appear in sight, looking black and 
large ; now you hear their soft whistling close to 
the boats, they rise a little but still keep on, and 
the first shot is straight overhead. The rear 
birds swerve just enough to give your next-door 
neighbor a chance ; more lucky than you, his first 
bird falls with a heavy splash, but dives out of 
harm's way and it is almost useless to chase him. 
Soon they come thick and fast, your gun grows 
hot, and for a time the booming of guns is echoed 
and reechoed along the shores of the sound. 
Occasionally a bird loses all idea of sensible direc- 
tion and passes over the entire line, calling forth 
both barrels from every boat, and then whistles 
by safe over the last one: hard hit likely, but 
well able to continue. They are strong and diffi- 
cult to kill, seldom giving up unless mortally hurt, 
and then often diving, not to reappear. The only 
excuse for killing these birds is that somebody, 
who knows less about coots than you do, will be 
willing to eat them ; but this individual is never 



Duck-shooting i8i 

found but once, for they are too fishy for most 
mankind. 

All winter long the white-winged scoter stays 
in the open water of Long Island Sound, although 
most abundant in fall and spring. Many pass 
farther south, where they frequent the ocean 
along the coast, keeping out beyond the surf, in 
heavy weather seeking the shelter of the bays. 

These birds are heavy and must rise from the 
water against the wind. This fact enables them 
to be sailed on ; as the craft approaches, the flock 
becomes uneasy and the ducks raise their necks 
as if taking a last long breath. Now they rise 
in a cumbersome way toward the boat and sheer 
off within easy range. Shooting from sailing 
vessels and launches is, however, generally prohib- 
ited. In April vast flocks congregate, preparatory 
to departure, and by May a few only remain. The 
breeding-ground is in Labrador and the regions 
about Hudson Bay, rarely in the northern United 
States, where it has been found in North Dakota. 
The nest is near water, always on the ground 
among the rushes and reeds that line the slough, 
by which it is well concealed. On the coast, 
foliage or brush serve this same purpose. The 
egg is larger than that of any other duck save 
the eider. 

Many of the white-winged scoters that winter 
in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts, are said to 



1 82 The Water-fowl Family 

migrate in May westward as far as Noank, Con- 
necticut. From there they pass in evening, high 
in air, in a northwest course. Possibly these are 
the birds that breed in the interior from North 
Dakota northward. This species has many names 
among our gunners, the best known being velvet 
duck, velvet scoter, white-winged surf duck, black 
surf duck, and coot. 

SURF SCOTER 
{Oidemia perspicillatd) 

Adult tnale — Large white patch on the back of the neck, and a 
triangular white spot between the eyes on the forehead ; entire 
remainder of plumage, black ; bill, striking and characteristic ; 
upper mandible at base, including nostrils, dull crimson chang- 
ing to scarlet over the front ; nail, yellow ; on each side of the 
base of bill a large rounded spot of black, separated from the 
black feathering above by a streak of orange, and posteriorly 
by a narrow line of crimson ; beneath these black patches and 
in front, continuously white ; the remainder of the sides of bill, 
orange ; the lower mandible similar but terminating at the base 
irregularly in white ; feet, crimson or orange-vermilion, with 
joints and webs black ; iris, white. 

Measurements — Length, 21 inches; wing, 9.25 inches; culmen, 
1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.70 inches. 

Adult female — An indistinct white patch on lores and behind the 
ears ; head, neck, and upper parts, dusky ; under parts, paler, 
lightest on abdomen ; bill, black, with greenish or brownish 
tinge ; iris, brown ; feet and legs, brown, with black webs. 

Measurements — Length, 19 inches; wing, 9 inches; culmen, 1.40 
inches; tarsus, 1.40 inches. 

Young male — Resembles the female in its general plumage, but the 
bill is somewhat larger and more colored, and the white on the 
forehead and neck posteriorly more marked. 

Eggs — Five to eight in number, ivory-white, with a pink tinge, and 
measure 2.45 by 1.60 inches. 



Duck-shooting 183 

Habitat — Breeds from Labrador and probably Hudson Bay, Great 
Slave Lake, and British Columbia, north to the Arctic Coast at 
Franklin Bay and Kotzebue Sound, the Bering Sea coast of 
Alaska and the Aleutian Islands ; occurs also in Greenland in 
summer and south on the Atlantic Coast to New York, and on 
the Pacific to Monterey, California. Winters on the Atlantic 
Coast from Maine to North Carolina and rarely to Florida and 
Jamaica ; on the Aleutian Islands, and on the Pacific Coast from 
British Columbia at least, south to San Quentin Bay, Lower Cali- 
fornia. Occurs not commonly in the interior, in Manitoba and 
Ontario, and south to western New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Colo- 
rado, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Frequently taken in Europe, 
and occurs in Bermuda. 

A relative and intimate companion of the 
white-winged scoter, the surf duck, is seen under 
the same circumstances on our coasts, but is more 
common in the interior, turning up frequently in 
unexpected places. We see the first flocks of 
these birds along the shores of the northern 
United States in early fall, and by October in 
abundance. They congregate on the same 
feeding-grounds with the other scoters, but 
usually remain by themselves. The surf duck 
is readily distinguished from the white-winged 
scoter by the absence of white on the wings and 
its more peculiarly shaped bill. On account of 
the white patch on the head of the male, this bird 
often goes by the name of skunk-head coot in 
New England and on Long Island. 

The surf duck is killed with decoys and over 
lines of boats anchored at short intervals apart. 



184 The IVater-fowl Family 

They fly low down, and as the flocks come within 
range, often close together, affording the oppor- 
tunity of killing several at a shot. The flight is 
marked by a shrill whistling, and when the birds 
are in large numbers this sound is heard a long 
distance off. The flesh is hardly fit for the table, 
but natives alongshore skin the young birds and 
eat them. Under these circumstances much of 
the fishy flavor is said to be lost. In localities 
where scoters abound the feathers are regularly 
saved and readily sold. 

Nelson describes a vast flock of surf ducks 
near St. Michael extending out to sea for miles, 
and we find them on the Atlantic Coast in con- 
siderable numbers just before their flight north in 
late April. The regions about Hudson Bay north 
to the Arctic Sea, Sitka, St. Michael, and vari- 
ous parts of the Alaskan coast are their breeding- 
grounds. The nest is on the ground, well made 
of grass and concealed under brush or scrub, 
sometimes at a considerable distance from water. 
At this time when disturbed the duck often utters 
a guttural note. At other times the birds are 
silent. During the period of incubation the males 
of the different varieties of scoters moult and for 
a time are unable to fly, in this condition, like many 
another bird, falling victims to the natives. While 
these species are perhaps the least interesting of 
our wild fowl, there is a certain satisfaction in 



Duck-shooting 185 

feeling that some birds stand a chance of surviv- 
ing man's wantonness, even if they be scoters. 

RUDDY DUCK 

{Erismatura jamaicensis) 

Adult male — In full plumage, upper part of head, including eye and 
back of neck, glossy black ; sides of head and chin, white ; 
throat and rest of neck, back, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and 
flanks, bright reddish chestnut ; wing-coverts, lower back, and 
rump, grayish brown ; primaries, dull brown, speckled near 
outer edge with gray ; tall, brownish black ; under parts below 
the upper part of breast, silvery white, the hidden portion of the 
feathers being gray ; the breast is tinged with rust color ; under 
tail-coverts, white ; bill, bright blue ; eyelids, slate ; iris, brown ; 
legs and feet, slate ; webs, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, i6 inches; wing, 6 inches; culmen, 1.60 
inches; tarsus, 1.20 inches. 

Adult female — Upper half of head, including eyes, dark brown ; 
cheeks, lighter brown ; a white stripe from below the eye goes 
to the nape ; chin, white ; throat and neck, brownish gray ; tips 
of feathers on lower neck in front, white; upper parts, dusky 
brown, mottled and speckled with grayish buff; lower parts, sil- 
very white, as in the male ; a yellowish wash on upper part of 
breast ; sides and flanks barred with brown ; wings, scapulars, 
and tail, dark brown, in some instances broadly margined with 
gray; under tail-coverts, white; bill, slate; legs and feet, slate ; 
webs, dark. 

Measurements — Length, 15.50 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; culmen, 
1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.12 inches. 

Young bird in fall plumage — Top of head, brown ; chin, throat, 
sides of head, grayish white ; back, scapulars, and rump, brown ; 
under parts, silvery gray, frequently with tinges of rust. 

Downy young — Upper parts and head, smoky brown ; a brownish 
white stripe beneath the eye posteriorly ; breast, sooty brown ; 
under parts, grayish white. 

Eggs — Twelve to eighteen in number, dull white in color, and 
measure 2.45 by 1.80 inches. 



1 86 The IVater-fowl Family 

Habitat — Breeds in the West Indies, and from Guatemala, Texas, 
and Lower California, north locally to Hudson Bay, Great Slave 
Lake, and British Columbia ; very rare in the United States in 
the breeding season east of the Mississippi, except in north- 
ern Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, but recorded, and in 
several instances eggs found, in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, 
Rhode Island, Massachusetts,Vermont and Maine. Winters from 
New Jersey, Illinois, Missouri(?), Nevada, and British Columbia, 
south to West Indies, Columbia, and Lower California. Occurs 
in migration on the Atlantic Coast north to Newfoundland, and 
in Bermuda. 

The reputation of the ruddy duck is recent, 
and dates back to the first scarcity of red-head 
and canvas-back along our eastern coast. Then a 
price was put upon its head, and this was followed 
by a persecution so relentless that shortly one of 
the commonest, and in many respects most insig- 
nificant, of our ducks will no longer be known in 
the old haunts. If it could only acquire the 
instinct of changing a diet composed of the most 
delicate grasses and vegetable matter on the duck 
bill of fare to sea food, it would live to old age 
unmolested and happy. This bird has nothing to 
commend it to sportsmen, no use for decoys, keeps 
off by itself, and, if occasion requires, disappears 
with the skill of a hell-diver. How unfortunate 
that a poor duck with such chances for peace- 
ful existence should be fated ! 

The ruddy duck is exclusively an American 
bird, occurring throughout the United States and 
British provinces to Hudson Bay, breeding in 



DiLck-shooting 187 

most of its range. The spring plumage of the 
male is striking, but in his dress of red he is sel- 
dom seen. This bird nests on the prairie sloughs in 
company with the red-head and canvas-back, some- 
times depositing its eggs in the nests of the former, 
from which they can readily be distinguished by 
their large size. The nest is built of rushes, often 
detached and floating. The young are hatched 
in July, and before September are fledged. We 
often see the brood remaining on the ponds when 
all the other ducks have taken flight, calmly wait- 
ing for the approach of danger, then sinking out 
of sight like a grebe, rising to the surface with 
just its bill protruding. The ruddy ducks are 
well distributed through the United States, in 
October occurring inland and on the coasts, but 
on the Atlantic they are not very abundant north 
of Virginia. Off North Carolina, and farther 
south, they are common, and seen in all the 
brackish bays. Keeping by themselves, they take 
to wing only when forced, and then fly a short 
distance. After the morning shooting is over 
the market gunner turns his attention to the 
boobies, for this is the name they go by, and well 
deserve. A number of boats quietly approach 
the ducks, gradually rounding them into some 
bay and lining out across its entrance ; then the 
birds are started. Nothing will induce a ruddy 
duck to fly over land ; it prefers open water and 



1 88 The IVater-fowl Family 

destruction. They come over the boats in ones 
and twos and flocks, low down, an easy mark. 
For a time the fusillade is furious, and many are 
killed. The birds that escape proceed to fall into 
the same trap over again, as soon as opportunity 
offers. Other names for this bird are booby, 
broadbill dipper, bumble-bee coot, salt-water teal, 
spine-tail, bull-neck, steel-head. 

MASKED DUCK 
{Nomonyx dominicus') 

Adult male — Head, except nape and chin, black ; nape, throat, 
neck, back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts, dark cinnamon ; 
centre of feathers, black ; lower back and rump, dark brown 
spotted with black ; upper part of breast, dark cinnamon ; sides 
darker with black centres to the feathers ; wings, blackish brown 
with long, narrow, white speculum ; under tail-coverts, cinnamon 
blotched with black ; tail, dark brown, shafts of feathers black ; 
bill, slate ; median line on maxilla, nail and skin at base of chin, 
black ; mandible, reddish white ; tip, black. 

Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 5.75 inches; culmen, 1.30 
inches ; tarsus, i inch. 

Adult female — Top of head, stripe from base of bill through eye to 
occiput and one from nape to occiput, black ; rest of head, buff, 
becoming whitish on throat ; neck, buif mottled with brown ; 
upper parts, black edged with buff; wings, dark brown; feathers, 
tipped with yellowish white ; speculum, white ; tail, dark brown, 
under parts ochraceous with blackish spots on breast, flanks, 
and anal region ; bill, brown ; nail, black. 

Measurements — Length, 13 inches; wing, 5 inches; culmen, 1.30 
inches ; tarsus, I inch. 

Young male — Sides of head mottled with buff and under parts 
whitish, otherwise resembles adult male. Still younger speci- 
mens resemble female. 

Habitat — Breeds in the West Indies and tropical America, ranging 



Duck-shooting 189 

north on the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande in Texas. Recorded 
also in North America, from Cedar Lake, Saskatchewan, Wis- 
consin, Massachusetts, and Vermont ; the last possibly an escaped 
caged bird, and the Cedar Lake, Saskatchewan, bird was wrongly- 
identified. Occurs in South America, south to Argentina and 
Chili. 

A tropical relative of the ruddy duck, which it 
resembles in habits. Found throughout northern 
South America and in the tropical parts of 
Mexico and Central America. There are three 
instances of its occurrence in the United States : 
one, on the Vermont shore of Lake Champlain, 
the bird being an adult male; the second speci- 
men was taken on Rock River, Wisconsin, No- 
vember, 1870, by Mr. L. Kumlein; the third at 
Maiden, Massachusetts, in 1889. 

This bird frequents the rivers and lagoons of 
its habitat, and is seen in pairs and small flocks. 
Like the ruddy duck, it is an expert diver, often 
swimming with the head and a small portion of 
the back exposed. 

The masked duck, more than most species, 
keeps to the water, and when on dry land pre- 
sents an awkward appearance, because of the feet, 
which are so far back as to disturb equilibrium. 
The flight is rapid, close to the water, and not 
well sustained. In Trinidad and the West Indies 
this variety is common, and while to a certain 
extent migratory, occurs throughout the year. 
The flesh is excellent. 



CHAPTER IV 

DUCK-SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

THE MERGANSERS 

{Mergince) 

The mergansers are a small group of eight or 
ten species, living chiefly in the northern hemi- 
sphere, but occurring also in most of the world. 
Their food is almost entirely fish, which they 
follow and catch under the water. As a conse- 
quence they have a long and cylindrical bill with 
pointed " teeth " along the sides and a sharp hook 
on the end. Their feet are webbed, but they dif- 
fer from the river-ducks in having a small mem- 
branous flap on the hind toe. They have short 
legs, long necks, a crested head, and pointed wings, 
and are swift fliers and capital swimmers and 
divers. In consequence of their fish diet, their 
flesh is strong and poor for food, although they 
are eaten in some localities. The males are 
handsome birds of brightly colored plumage, — 
our own hooded merganser being, on the whole, 
the most beautiful of the group. They frequent 
the lakes and rivers, and the bays of the coasts, 
seldom occurring in the centre of large bodies of 

190 



Duck-shooting 191 

water, and are very rarely found in large flocks. 
Many of them breed in holes in trees, others lay- 
ing on the ground, under bushes, and close to the 
shore. Occasionally they breed in colonies. Like 
the ducks many of the male mergansers wear for 
a few weeks in summer a plumage resembling 
that of the female. 

An interesting genus of this family inhabits the 
swift mountain torrents of the highest Andes 
from Columbia to Chili, and can swim and dive 
with great rapidity against the fast-rushing water. 
Their bills are more like that of a duck than those 
of the other mergansers, and they have a large 
and sharp spur on the wing. On account of their 
habits these birds are known as the torrent ducks. 

AMERICAN MERGANSER 

(^Merganser americantis) 

Adult male — Head and upper part of neck, dark, glossy green ; 
feathers on nape elongated ; back and inner scapulars, jet-black ; 
rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, ashy gray ; sides of crissum 
and femoral region, whitish, narrowly barred with slate color; 
neck, white ; breast and under parts, fine salmon color, fading 
to white in dried skins ; primaries, black ; secondaries, white, 
edged with black ; lesser wing-coverts, black proximally, white 
distally ; inner greater coverts, black, outer, white ; base of 
greater coverts, black, forming a bar halfway across the wing ; 
bill, vermilion, with culmen and nail, black ; feet, vermilion ; 
iris, red, or reddish brown. 

Meastirements — Length, 27 inches ; wing, 11 to 1 1 .25 inches ; cul- 
men, 2 inches ; tarsus, 1.90 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and occipital crest, reddish brown ; chin 
and throat, white ; upper parts, gray, edged with paler and with 



192 The Water-fowl Family 

dark shaft streaks ; primaries, black ; speculum, white ; flanks, 
ash ; lower parts, white, with a tinge of buff, fading in dried 
skins ; tail, gray ; bill, reddish brown ; culmen, blackish ; feet, 
reddish orange ; webs, dusky ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 22 inches; wing, 9.60 inches; tarsus, 1.80 
inches; culmen, 1.90 inches. 

Young male — With general characteristics of female, but larger in 
measurement. 

Downy young — Upper parts, brown, marked with four white spots; 
upper half of head and neck, rusty ; rest of head, neck, and under 
parts, white. 

Eggs — Seven to ten in number, ivory-white, with a tinge of buff, 
and measure 2.63 by 1.75 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Newfoundland, Sable Island (?), Maine, Ver- 
mont, New York, formerly Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, 
Nebraska, and Washington, and south in the mountains to Penn- 
sylvania, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, north to Labra- 
dor, Great Slave Lake, probably Fort Anderson, Fort Yukon, 
and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Winters from New Bruns- 
wick, Vermont rarely, Ontario, Wisconsin, Kansas, Colorado, 
Idaho, British Columbia, and the Aleutian and Pribilof islands, 
south to Florida, Louisiana, Texas, northern Mexico, and Cali- 
fornia. Occurs in Bermuda. 

Fond of the sport and a clever fisherman, but 
no respecter of a six-inch law, the American mer- 
ganser knows every trout stream and lake from 
northern New England to as far north as trout 
streams flow. In July we see the female with her 
little brood on the secluded lakes and rivers. 
They were bred in the hole of some tree not far 
from water, and since the time the old duck car- 
ried them to the ground in her bill they have 
been learning merganser manners, and now are 
well skilled in diving, hiding, and scooting along 



Duck-shooting 193 

the water. The mother is a devoted parent and 
is often seen with a Httle one on her back. When 
danger . threatens they scatter and disappear, the 
old bird keeping close until she can call them to 
a place of safety. In late August and September 
they are full-fledged and congregate with other 
families, forming a respectable flock. When 
startled, they run along the surface of the water, 
flapping their wings with much noise and commo- 
tion, on account of which habit the bird often 
goes by the name of steamboat. In October and 
November the American merganser appears 
along our coast and inland, frequenting the open 
rivers and lakes, remaining until the last ice hole 
is closed, under these circumstances keeping well 
fed and fat. I noticed one winter that among a 
number of ducks killed in a freeze-up these 
birds were the only ones in good condition. 
Their crops were gorged with little eels. We 
often see them in bays near the mouths of rivers, 
keeping pretty much their own company and 
feeding on the schools of small fish abounding in 
these places, the bird when wounded often eject- 
ing what it has swallowed. The flight is strong 
and they are hard to kill, carrying away a heavy 
charge of shot; if wing broken, diving quickly 
and swimming a long distance under water. 
When freshly killed the bright salmon color of 
the breast, in the male bird, is a striking feature 



194 The IVater-fowl Family 

of his plumage. In the spring the American 
merganser is fond of the smaller rivers and 
streams, swimming through the rapids without 
hesitation, diving for his food in the pools. We 
get our last glimpse of him in April. Other names 
for this species are American sheldrake, pond 
sheldrake, goosander, saw-bill, breakhorn, and 
fisherman. 

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 

(^Merganser serrator) 

Adult male — Head and occipital crest of lengthened feathers, dark 
glossy green with purple reflections ; neck immediately below, 
white in the form of a collar with a black streak posteriorly ; 
upper part of breast, buff streaked with black ; under parts, 
white ; back and inner scapulars, glossy black ; lower back and 
rump, gray with black and white mottling; primaries, dark 
brown ; wing, mostly white crossed by two black bars ; on the 
sides of the breast, in front of shoulder, is a patch of white 
feathers, bordered with black ; flanks, finely barred with lines 
of gray and black ; tail, dark gray ; bill, carmine with dusky cul- 
men ; nail, yellowish ; legs and feet, red ; iris, reddish orange or 
carmine. The distance from nostril to nearest feather on head 
less than the height of bill at base in both sexes. This is a 
point of certain distinction between this and the preceding 
species. 

Measurements — Length, 22.50 inches; wing, 8.70 inches; tail, 4 
inches; tarsus, 1.80 inches ; culmen, 2.40 inches. 

Adult female — Head, neck, and crest, cinnamon-brown ; throat and 
lower parts, white ; sides, gray ; upper parts, dark gray edged 
with pale gray, feathers with darker shafts ; white patch on the 
wing divided by a black bar ; bill, legs, and feet, reddish brown ; 
iris, brown. 

Meas7ire7nents — Length, 20 inches; wing, 8.50 inches; tarsus, 1.50 
inches ; culmen, 2.20 inches. 



Duck-shooting 195 

Young male — Similar to female ; chin and throat, pale reddish ; lower 
neck and upper part of breast, brownish ; white space on wing 
marked by a black bar. 

Downy young — Upper parts, top of head and neck, brown ; sides 
of head and neck, rusty ; lower parts, yellowish white, and a 
white patch on each side of back and rump. 

Eggs — Eight to twelve in number, creamy buff, and measure 2.55 
by 1.80 inches. 

Habitat — Northern portion of northern hemisphere. Breeds in 
North America from Sable Island, Maine, Ontario, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Illinois, Manitoba, Alberta, Utah, probably Idaho, 
and British Columbia, north to the Aleutians, the western and 
Arctic Coast of Alaska, Fort Anderson, Cumberland, and Green- 
land south of 73°, chiefly near the coast or on large lakes. 
Winters in south Greenland and the Commander Islands, and 
in the United States chiefly along the coast, from Maine, Ohio, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Nevada, and Washing- 
ton, south to Lower California, Louisiana, and Florida. Occurs 
also in Bermuda and Hawaii. 

The range of this bird is wide ; it is found along 
both coasts from the Arctic regions to the south- 
ern Hmits of the United States, and rather prefers 
shore resorts to those inland. The red-breasted 
merganser breeds from our northern boundary to 
Alaska and Hudson Bay. It is common as far 
north as the Aleutian Islands, and the natives 
here consider the rank and fishy flavor of its flesh 
a delicacy. The nest is placed in the marshes 
near the coast on the islands or mainland, care- 
fully hidden on the ground among the rushes and 
reeds. The eggs are well covered up with down. 
We see the little ducklings in July, and if sur- 
prised they quickly hide, perhaps betraying their 



196 The Water-fowl Family 

presence by a lonely peep in answer to the dis- 
tressed cry of the old bird as she circles around 
near by. They are hardy and soon able to shift 
for themselves, running and flapping over the 
water exactly as the goosander or American mer- 
ganser. They fly in September and follow the 
coast in their migration, frequenting the shallow 
bays and lagoons alongshore, often following up 
the larger rivers. Mergansers do not care espe- 
cially for the companionship of other ducks, and 
we see them in flocks alone, perhaps feeding on 
some school of fish which they ravenously pursue 
and devour. They fly in a line and have a pecul- 
iar habit of depressing the neck and head, when 
their attention is attracted by anything in the line 
of flight. The ideas of the red-breasted mergan- 
ser on the subject of a winter resort vary. Some 
stay through the coldest weather along the New 
England coast, others push on to Florida; many 
loiter between. The male of this species is very 
showy ; his green hairy crest and handsome body 
markings rank him well as a stylish bird. Not 
persecuted for the market and careful to mind 
their own affairs, this species might well set ex- 
amples to the more popular members of our 
wild-fowl family. This bird is also known as the 
sheldrake, salt-water sheldrake, fishing-duck, and 
hairy crown. 



Duck-shooting 197 

HOODED MERGANSER 
{Lophodytes cucullattis) 

Adult male — Head and neck, back, and scapulars, black; crest, 
black anteriorly ; posteriorly white, with narrow black border ; 
wing-coverts, dark gray, grading into lighter posteriorly ; tertials, 
black, with central band of white ; wing, rump, and tail, dark 
brown ; in front of the wing, on the sides, are two black and 
two white crescent-shaped bars ; flanks, grayish brown, becom- 
ing reddish toward the tail, undulated with fine black lines; 
under parts, pure white ; under tail-coverts, dusky ; bill, black ; 
legs and feet, yellowish brown ; iris, yellow. 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches; wing, 7.50 inches; tail, 4.20 
inches; tarsus, i.io inches; culmen, 1.50 inches. 

Adult female — Yit2i^j neck, and upper parts, light brown; crest, 
darker; back and tail, dark brown; throat and under parts, 
white; flanks, grayish brown; wing, brown, with white patch 
crossed by dark bar; bill, black, with yellowish edge; feet, 
light brown ; iris, hazel. 

Measurements — Length, 16.50 inches; wing, 7.20 inches; tarsus, 
1.20 inches; culmen, 1.50 inches. 

Yotmgmale — Head and neck, light brown, with more or less black 
mottling ; crest, brownish white, with brown edge ; upper parts, 
dark brown, tipped with lighter ; wings, rump, and upper tail- 
coverts, dark brown ; a few of the tertials with stripe of white ; 
upper breast, dusky gray ; lower breast and abdomen, white. 

Downy yottng — Upper parts, brown, darkest on back; lower por- 
tions of head and throat, light buff; a light grayish spot on each 
side of back and rump ; breast, pale brown ; abdomen, white. 

.^•.y — Eight to twelve, pure white, and measure 2.10 by 1.70 
inches. 

Hal/ztat— Breeds from Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, 
probably Nevada, and Oregon, north locally to Labrador, On- 
tario, Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, and northern British Colum- 
bia. Winters from Massachusetts, New York, Indiana, Illinois, 
Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, and British Columbia, south to 
Lower California, Mexico, the Gulf states, and Cuba. Rare in 
the northeastern part of its range. Recorded from St. Michael, 
Alaska, and from Europe and Bermuda. 



198 The PVater-fowl Family 

A flash of black and white, and he is gone. 
When other ducks have stopped flying, and you 
still stay in the blind not watching all directions 
as carefully as in the early morning, suddenly 
there is a sensation of something around and you 
catch a glimpse of this freak streak, too late to do 
anything more. He came and went as only a 
hairy crown can. This is the name he goes by 
along many parts of our coast, although his wide 
distribution and stunning plumage have given 
him a number of others, and he is variously 
called water-pheasant, hairy-head, cotton-head, 
pond-shell drake, and spikebill. 

The hooded merganser breeds along most of 
its range, from Florida north, but more commonly 
from the northern United States throughout the 
fur countries. The nest is placed in a hollow 
tree often twenty feet from the ground, near a 
stream or along the shore of some lake, occa- 
sionally at a considerable distance from water. 
The birds fly through the woods and light on a 
tree with speed and grace. An interesting in- 
stance is recorded by Mr. Boardman of where 
a female wood duck and a female hooded mer- 
ganser contested for the possession of a nesting- 
place in the hollow of a tree ; later the nest was 
found to contain eighteen fresh eggs, about a 
third belonging to the merganser. The brood is 
first seen in late June, when the young are scarce 



Duck-shooting 199 

the size of bantam chicks. They keep close to 
the mother and feed on what she selects, seeds 
and grubs; later on she fishes for them. By 
early fall they all take flight, and hurry south. 
We see them on our New England coast in spare 
numbers by late September, though in the South 
more commonly. Throughout the interior they 
are well known on the marshes of most of our 
lakes and rivers. The hooded merganser fre- 
quents the brackish bays of our Southern states ; 
here creeks and ponds in the marshy islands are 
the spots he loves. We see him in a small, select 
flock or with his little brown mate, keeping 
mostly by themselves ; in places where protection 
is afforded quickly showing their appreciation of 
it, and becoming gentle. As the male swims 
lightly on the water, he is an ornament of beauty 
unsurpassed ; if startled, springing into the air 
and flying low and fast with unusual speed. 
Few birds deserve more consideration for their 
good looks. Long may he live ! 

SMEW 
{Mergtts albellus) 

Adult male — Plumage, white ; a patch at the base of the bill, includ- 
ing lores and eyes, lower portion of crest, middle of the back, 
two crescentric, narrow lines on the side of the breast and outer 
edge of the scapulars and rump, black, with greenish reflections 
on the head ; upper tail-coverts, gray ; middle wing-coverts, 
white ; greater coverts, black, tipped with white ; tail, dark gray ; 
sides and flanks marked with fine, black, wavy lines on a gray 



200 The Water-fowl Family 

ground ; bill, slate ; nail, lighter ; iris, light gray ; legs and feet, 
slate color, with dark webs. 

Measurements — Length, 16.75 inches; wing, 7.60 inches; culmen, 
r.25 inches; tarsus, 1.12 inches. 

Adult female — Head and neck posteriorly, chestnut-brown; lores 
and cheeks, darker ; throat and sides of neck, white ; upper 
parts, brownish gray, darkest on the rump ; jugulum, slaty gray ; 
sides and flanks, brownish gray ; under parts, white ; tail, 
brownish gray. 

Downy young — Upper parts with sides of head below eye, including 
back of neck, blackish brown ; white spots below eye, at wing 
joint, on side of back, and side of rump ; breast and flanks, 
grayish brown ; rest of lower parts, white. 

Habitat — Breeds in northern Europe and Asia, occurring in migra- 
tion east to the Commander Islands. Winters south to the 
coasts of the Mediterranean, northern India, China, and Japan. 
Recorded from northern North America and by Audubon from 
Louisiana. 

A female of this bird, in the British Museum, 
purchased from the Hudson Bay Company, and 
a female, obtained by Audubon in Louisiana, in 
181 7, are the two instances of the occurrence of 
the smew in North America. 

The smew has many of the habits of our 
hooded merganser, frequenting chiefly rivers and 
lakes, seldom occurring in large flocks, and nest- 
ing in hollow trees. In summer it occurs as far 
north as the Kola Peninsula, Russia, the Yenisei 
River, Siberia, and Kamchatka. In England the 
adult male is known as the white widgeon, and 
females and young males, in Devonshire, as vare 
widgeon, from a fancied resemblance to the head 
of a weasel there called vare. 



Interbreeding 201 

INTERBREEDING 

When we consider the close relationship exist- 
ing between many of our wild fowl, it seems re- 
markable that evidences of interbreeding are not 
more often observed. Many species utilize a 
common breeding-ground and follow the same 
migratory courses to the winter haunts. Among 
the fresh-water ducks certain different varieties 
are prone to associate, notably the mallard, shov- 
eller, teal, and pintail. In a limited area the black 
duck breeds in the territory of the mallard. 
From the general similarities of these two species 
it is natural to expect the commonest hybrids 
would be between the black duck and mallard, 
and this is the case. Crosses between the two 
are known to most sportsmen of experience. 
The marshes of Ontario and the coast to the 
south of the Chesapeake have afforded numerous 
instances of this hybrid, and in parts of Ontario 
it is incorrectly known as the black mallard. The 
writer recently saw a fine specimen of black duck 
and mallard cross killed in North Carolina; it 
resembled the black duck, but had distinct mal- 
lard markings. Other hybrids resemble the 
mallard. The green feathers of the head and 
the recurved feathers of the tail are often notice- 
able. Two instances of this hybrid are described 
under the "mallard." As would be expected, 



202 The IVater-fowl Family 

they do not differ materially in size from either 
species. The mallard is by far the commonest 
duck to interbreed, possibly owing to its wide- 
spread distribution ; and next to the cross between 
mallard and black duck we find several instances 
of a hybrid between mallard and muscovy — 
specimens of which are likewise described under 
" mallard." The muscovy duck in North America 
is a tropical and subtropical species, seldom, if 
ever, coming into the United States. The hy- 
brids therefore are probably those of the wild 
mallard with the domestic muscovy. Mallard 
and pintail are also responsible for hybrids, and 
there are several striking instances of this cross. 
Several years since in October a number of mal- 
lard and pintail hybrids were killed at the Long 
Point Club, evidently all members of the same 
brood. Specimens of a cross between mallard and 
gadwall and mallard with widgeon are recorded, 
and an interesting instance of a pintail and teal 
hybrid as well as a red-head and wood duck. The 
hybrid is supposed to be larger than either parent, 
a rule which is more noticeable the more dissimilar 
the species. There was at one time a specimen 
in the collection at Princeton of a supposed hy- 
brid between mallard and brant which was con- 
siderably larger than a brant, and as ungainly as 
might be supposed. Another class of ducks in- 
timately associated in their breeding-grounds are 



Interbreeding 203 

the canvas-back and red-head. These birds breed 
in the more open ponds, and it is not uncommon 
to find eggs of the red-head in the nest of the can- 
vas-back and vice versa; the e.gg of the ruddy- 
duck is also occasionally found in the nests of 
both the former. Hybrids between these varie- 
ties are not to the knowledge of the writer on 
record. A cross between canvas-back and ruddy 
duck might be a good thing for a bill of fare, but 
it would certainly be an oddity in the duck line. 
Some of the rarer varieties of ducks are not un- 
frequently mistaken for hybrids ; this is specially 
true in the case of the European widgeon, an 
occasional straggler to our shores, where it is 
often thought to be a cross between a red-head 
and a widgeon, and is called the red-headed widg- 
eon. The ring-necked duck, rare in localities, 
among many of our gunners goes by the name of 
bastard broadbill, and doubtless is so considered. 
Among the geese the best instance of interbreed- 
ing is in the cross between the Canada goose and 
the domestic. This hybrid possesses most of the 
characteristics of the wild bird. It is regularly 
barren, but a superior bird for the table. There 
is no better demonstration of the provision of nature 
for its own than in the preservation of species. In 
all probability eggs, the result of interbreeding, 
are less often fertile than under ordinary circum- 
stances, and hybrids are regularly barren. 



204 The Water-fowl Family 

Albinism is not uncommonly noticed among 
the ducks, and albinos of many of the varieties 
have at one time or another come under the 
writer's observation. An interesting instance of 
this was noticed several years ago ; in a brood of 
young mergansers, two-thirds grown, there were 
two perfectly white birds which were subsequently 
secured. During the past fall a white teal was 
seen on the marshes near Port Rowan, and a year 
ago a white pintail was killed in the same locality. 
Partial albinism is naturally more common than 
complete, and there seem to be in all albinos cer- 
tain parts that do not entirely lose the character 
of their coloring, such as the feathers of the 
speculum. Probably few albinos among our 
water-fowl escape observation at one time or 
another, and in more than one instance birds 
marked in this unusual way have demonstrated 
the fact that the migratory courses vary but little. 



CHAPTER V 

GOOSE-SHOOTING 
ON THE BAYS 

In dealing with the wild goose the gunner is 
confronted with a bird of extraordinary cunning ; 
accustomed to man's methods from his gosling 
days, the older he gets the wiser he grows. His 
undoing on occasions is due to the fact that some 
of his relatives make shrewd decoys, and as such 
have no conscience about making trouble for the 
unshot members of the race. Probably the patri- 
archs of learning and wisdom in the decoy line 
come from down east, Boston way. In one or 
two of the clubs there Canada geese are actually 
trained to fly among the wild flock and bring it 
toward the blind, where a welcome chorus from 
the live decoys greets the strangers and alluring 
honks bring them in. On Long Island there are 
a few stands of live decoys, but Canada geese are 
not as regular in their sojourn here as farther 
south. In the brackish bays of North Carolina 
they winter, vast hordes of them ; but even with all 
the gunning this country is infested with, compar- 
atively few fall victims. In the ordinary weather 

205 



2o6 The IVater-fowl Family 

of fall and winter it is hardly worth while to 
waste much time on Canada geese, but when 
wind and storm drive the flocks low down under 
the lee of land the chance is afforded. 

The Currituck Club is the club for geese, and 
here many are killed every year. They have the 
habit of leaving the quiet shelter of the bay for 
the ocean, where they spend the day, crossing the 
outer bars and dunes on the journey back and 
forth, often low down, coming close to the inner 
shore on these trips. Here sink boxes are placed 
in the more favorable locations ; when storm- 
driven the restless flocks lead to and fro, seeking 
in vain a shelter. This is the chance, and it 
doesn't come often. Eight or ten trusted honkers 
from the goose pen at the club are boxed up. A 
large swan goes along, too, for luck. These are 
taken to the blind and carefully tethered on the 
flat, or if in shallow water a platform is driven 
just under the surface, as swimming all the time 
gets monotonous. The sink box is now put in 
shape, — it likely needs bailing out, the edge 
probably requires a little tinkering, — some sand 
is thrown up around the front, or possibly sea- 
weed and sedge ; then every vestige that could 
arouse suspicion is removed. If everything is 
favorable, and it's mighty seldom it is, the gunner 
hasn't long to wait. Likely the first intimation of 
anything out of the ordinary will be a honk from 



^ 



Goose-shooting 207 

some watchful decoy and successive honks from 
a few others, as their attention is roused to the 
possibility of callers. Very often all this before 
a sound has been heard or a bird seen ; but soon 
a far-off honk makes it evident there are sharper 
eyes than a gunner's. What the man with the 
gun wants to do now is to keep his stomach 
pretty close to the ground, stay very insignificant- 
like in his box, and trust his business in the hands 
of others; they attend to it well. Excitement 
prevails outside and the distant honks grow 
nearer; they are coming right along, now with 
long, low groans of satisfaction at the thought of 
companions and a rest. What sort of sensations 
the man in the box has been having only he 
knows who has been there. To most men under 
these circumstances desire gets the better of dis- 
cretion, and sooner or later it becomes irresistible. 
He just raises his eyes over the edge, and in this 
particular instance sees six geese, too near for 
comfort. Close together, the poor frightened 
things get closer, and at the shot two thump the 
ground pretty hard; the second barrel winds up 
matters for a third ; the other three have changed 
their mind about friendly geese and are striking 
out for Florida. The decoys are happy ; it is the 
old story of misery loves company. Things don't 
always connect in just this kind of a way. 

Geese, though a good big mark, can be missed, 



2o8 The IVater-fowl Family 

and under all circumstances are hard to kill. 
Their size often causes the distance to be mis- 
judged. The man in the present instance who 
is fortunate enough to be in this blind at Curri- 
tuck on a good goosing day, has had some expe- 
rience, and he allows most of the birds to keep 
coming when they once start. Several times 
since the first chance he has stopped two out of 
the small flocks that have come his way and has 
piled up some twenty birds. A large flock, low 
down, leads toward the blind. Such honking, a 
bedlam ! Finally, as they are about to turn in, 
an old gander raises his voice above the others; 
something has caught his eye, he swings the whole 
mass around and heads them for the middle of 
Currituck Bay. The end goose comes in a bit too 
far, and with the shot he makes just twenty-one. 

But what of the swan.? Tied to his stake he has 
enjoyed the performance of the morning as much 
as the geese, though he hasn't honked out any 
sentiments. On this particular day he earns his 
salt, for along toward noon three swans, an old 
bird and two cygnets, see him and come. They 
don't make any noise about it, but the geese honk 
away ; and when they are straight overhead a gun 
cracks twice, one of the cygnets closes up and 
falls on hard ground with an everlasting big thud. 
This is a good way to wind up, and the decoys 
and dead birds make a boat load. The finish of 




SNOW GEESE 



Goose-shooting 209 

the day came in the evening at the Club, and with 
a pipe before the fireplace those birds were all 
shot over. 

IN THE STUBBLES 

Throughout the West, geese frequent the stub- 
ble fields, and here they are often shot from pits 
or shacks ; pits are by far the most satisfactory 
means when it is possible to dig them. It is often 
desirable to allow the birds to feed about the 
changed surroundings for a time before attempt- 
ing to use decoys ; then if they happen to come in 
small relays instead of ;n a large flock, there may 
be a good chance. To me this form of shooting 
is particularly attractive, and I recall many times 
my first experience in a goose pit. 

It was several years ago, in October, and 
about the middle of the month, that young Jim 
Bosworth walked into the kitchen of the Bos- 
worth farm with the information that there was a 
big flock of geese feeding on the west stubble. 
This was news we had been waiting two weeks 
for. Jim had seen the geese that afternoon, and 
it was a question if it wouldn't be a good plan to 
let them alone awhile with a little corn for en- 
couragement. I had then a first goose to kill, and 
the thought of putting off a matter of this sort 
didn't especially appeal. We compromised on 
one day ; during this time they were to get corn, 
the next morning Jim was to dig the pit, and the 



2IO The PVater-fowl Family 

following afternoon I hoped to preside at the ob- 
sequies of a goose. We started, when it came 
time, in a buggy ; this doesn't seem quite in har- 
mony with surroundings, for we were in the wilds 
of North Dakota, but this special buggy certainly 
served our purpose. There was room on the seat 
for Jim and me and the hired man, and under the 
seat for three young Canada geese, that were un- 
ceremoniously jumbled into a sack, where they 
kicked around for a while and then became quiet. 
We reached the pit about four in the afternoon, 
after three miles jogging, over stubbles. There 
wasn't much left of Jim's corn, and according to 
Jim he hadn't been stingy. The pit was dug deep, 
the dirt well scattered, in fact there were tracks 
right up on the edge. It looked like one of those 
sure things. Jim staked out the three decoys and 
tied a string to each one of their free legs; these 
strings were for manipulation behind the screen, 
and this was his business in the pit. I had two guns, 
a ten and a twelve. It began to get fairly well 
along toward sunset, and we were getting a trifle 
anxious, when the sound of distant honking bright- 
ened up matters. The decoys were young and 
didn't appreciate the importance of speaking up, so 
Jim proceeded to pull the legs of two ; the result 
was a few distressed honks ; they were answered, 
and a tumultuous droning indicated a big gang of 
geese. From the noise now they must be behind 



Goose-shooting 2 1 1 

the high knoll in front, and that is just where 
they were; for in a few seconds a great line of 
birds came into view, close over the ground ; there 
was an everlasting host of them. If we ever get 
a shot at that line of necks ! Gee ! they were 
coming head on, getting bigger and blacker every 
minute, making such a racket you couldn't hear 
yourself think. If there had not been two guns 
close by, I believe I would have been afraid. 

Just about the critical moment six geese sepa- 
rated from the crowd and came straight overhead, 
pretty high up, and here is where I made the big- 
gest mistake in a life of blunders : I stood up in 
the pit and fired at the head bird. He was as 
big as the sum total of the other five. The first 
shot plastered him all over, the second shot did 
likewise, but he never winced. Then there was 
the ten-bore, he was still in range; the first I 
don't think touched him, the second put some 
shot in a very good place, right in his neck ; he 
folded up clean and hit that soft stubble with such 
a jolt it about one-quarter buried him. When 
we finished with his execution, for all that could 
be seen and heard, there wasn't another goose in 
North Dakota. That was all ; Jim didn't see any 
more geese on the west stubble. We put that 
gander in the buggy, — he had to go in front, 
there was no room behind. He tipped the Bos- 
worth scales at an even eighteen pounds. 



212 



The IVater-fowl Family 



GOOSE-SHOOTING IN MEXICO 

The large bodies of water that are found at 
rare intervals in northern Mexico are the resort 
through the winter of countless numbers of geese : 
not the Canada goose of the East and Middle 
West, but the snow goose and the white-fronted 
goose. In early October the hordes arrive, an- 
nouncing their coming with discordant clamor. 
They choose as a resting-place the shallow alkali 
waters, and as a feeding-ground the neighboring 
corn stubble, if such there be. A short distance 
from Minaca is one of these lakes, some twenty 
miles in length. In the Mexican summer, rains 
replenish the scanty water supply left over from 
the spring, and October finds it a paradise for 
water-fowl. Shut in by the rolling hills of the 
mesa, yellow with wavy grass, its blue surface 
reflects a bluer sky. All around, as far as the 
eye can reach, are herds of cattle, for some six 
miles away is a ranch ; and at this spot, one fall 
recently, we stopped. Early in the morning a 
breakfast of tortillas and coffee was served, and 
before it was finished a Mexican boy appeared 
with the horses. Guns were slipped into the sad- 
dle-cases. Our attendant found room for most of 
our ammunition in his saddle-bag, and we started 
for the lake. It was a ride of about six miles, 
over an open country ; but the horses were fast, 



Goose-shooting 2 1 3 

and in less than half an hour we looked down 
from a knoll on the sheet of water some two 
miles away. Along the farther shore was a bank 
of white, shining in the light of sunrise — a solid 
bank of snow geese. Scattered over its surface 
everywhere were flocks of ducks and geese, black 
masses of them. We hurried on, passing through 
herd after herd of cattle, which increased in num- 
bers as the water was approached. A coyote 
stopped to take a fleeting glance from the top of 
a hill opposite, then disappeared. A jack-rabbit 
scurried from in front. A familiar cry overhead 
caused us to look up. It came from a flock of 
sand-hill cranes, far out of reach, which were sail- 
ing on toward their feeding-ground in the stubble. 
We reached the edge of the lake, and hundreds of 
ducks rose as the horses neared them, mostly 
shovellers and teal, but mallard, widgeon, and 
pintail were all there. The geese were across 
the lake, thousands in one band. Every now and 
then a white line joined the resting birds, and at 
the approach of a flock their discordant cries 
could be heard a mile away. How to get a shot 
seemed more or less of a problem, owing to lack 
of cover. Finally we noticed a few bunches of 
rushes extending well out into the lake, the only 
possible chance to hide. We waded out and 
took a position in the farthest clump. The 
Mexican led off the horses and started on a 



214 The Water-fowl Family 

tour to the farther shore. It was a long way off, 
almost four miles, but there was plenty to watch. 
Every few minutes flocks of ducks would pass 
over us in range, but we let them go. Gulls cir- 
cled around, crying at the unusual sight of two 
men with guns. We looked over at the geese. 
At times cattle seemed almost among them ; yet 
the white assembly did not move, and we only 
heard them when a flock was about to alight to 
those on the ground. The horses were getting 
closer, and finally a part of the body started, to 
settle down a little farther on. But presently a 
tumultuous clamor, and the entire company was 
in motion. Line after line separated and led out 
into the lake. Some followed the opposite shore ; 
an immense flock led toward our clump, and we 
crouched in the water. On they came, scarcely a 
hundred yards off. But geese are uncertain, even 
in Mexico, and, for some reason best known to 
themselves, they turned when just out of range 
and led toward the shore beyond us. In a few 
minutes they were reassembled and the imme- 
diate prospect of a shot gone. The Mexican, with 
his string of horses, continued down the opposite 
side, evidently after birds we could not see. Ducks 
were around us all the time, and flocks drifted by 
within easy range, unmolested. Before long we 
heard the familiar cry, and looked to see a mass 
of white heading for the flock on the shore; our 



Goose-shooting 2 1 5 

blind was right in their line, and they came on, 
low down, over the water, nearer and nearer; 
finally fifty or more seemed directly over us, so 
close we could see their red bills and legs. This 
was the chance: back to back we raked them, 
four barrels ; three birds fell on one side, two on 
the other. The reports started all the wild fowl 
in the country. In a few minutes part of the 
first flock came over us from the opposite direc- 
tion, and two dropped. A flock of geese swung 
in range over the dead birds, and we killed two 
more. For an hour the shots were frequent, but 
the birds became wiser every minute, and kept 
to the middle of the lake or else came over the 
blind out of range. We picked up eighteen, 
a dozen white, the rest white-fronted — all one 
Mexican could pack on a horse. 

THE GEESE 

(^AnserincB) 

The geese are the largest water-fowl we often 
see in eastern North America, and even they are 
seldom found except in certain localities. Their 
necks and legs are longer than those of the ducks 
and mergansers, and the bill, though somewhat 
like that of a duck, is shorter, higher at base, and 
more fleshy, with a larger nail at the tip. They 
agree with the ducks and mergansers in having 
the space between the eye and the bill covered 



2i6 The Water-fowl Family 

with feathers. The hind toe is without a mem- 
branous lobe. While most of them perform long 
migrations, breeding in the far north and reach- 
ing temperate latitudes for the winter, one species 
remains near Bering Sea throughout the year, 
and some of the most peculiar forms are con- 
fined to the southern hemisphere. The Alaskan 
species, the emperor goose, feeds on an animal 
diet, but most of the others on grasses, grain, or 
water-plants, and their flesh is a valuable addition 
to the bill of fare. Many savage races have in 
the past depended on geese for a large portion of 
their food. The natives of the west shore of 
Hudson Bay, in the eighteenth century, would 
kill each spring from five to six thousand snow 
geese and salt them for food ; and the Eskimo, 
livine between the mouths of the Kuskokwim 
and Yukon rivers, in Alaska, as recently as the 
closing quarter of the last century, were accus- 
tomed to stretch long lines of net across the 
marshes, and then drive the moulting geese and 
ducks into them, thus destroying thousands. 

Geese do not dive, but when feeding in water, 
which must be shallow, stretch their long necks 
to the bottom, elevating the rest of the body in 
the air. A flock of brant thus changing from 
black to white is an interesting spectacle. Many 
species feed almost entirely on the land, and some 
seldom visit the water. The sexes are alike in 



Goose-shooting 2 1 7 

plumage and the speculum usually absent. They 
breed on the ground in retired marshes, on an 
island in some lake, or rarely in the deserted nest 
of a large bird, and often collect quite a mass of 
rubbish for a nest. The female sits on the eggs 
while the male protects her, and both will defend 
their young from an intruder, thrusting forward 
their long necks and hissing, striking with their 
wings, or flying at his head. In migrating they 
fly swiftly and far, travelling in V-shaped flocks, 
led usually by an old gander. In one species at 
least, the Canada goose, the family migrates to- 
gether, and in captivity a pair once mated will 
remain so for life. If separated they will take 
other partners; but if brought together again, 
even after the lapse of a year, it is said, will 
return to each other. 

The tree-ducks, of which two species occur near 
the Mexican border of the United States, are 
placed by most ornithologists among the geese. 
While the bills of these birds closely resemble those 
of the ducks, other anatomical details indicate a 
nearer relationship to the present sub-family. 

Among the interesting geese, natives in other 
parts of the world, is the Egyptian goose {Chena- 
lopex csgyptiacMs). This bird has most of the 
head and neck brown; the upper part of the 
throat and centre of the abdomen, white ; most 
of upper parts, breast, and flanks, ferruginous 



2i8 The PVater-fowl Family 

buff, barred with dusky; some of the scapulars, 
chestnut ; the wings, black, with a green speculu- 
lum ; the wing-coverts, white ; the lower back and 
tail, black ; the lower tail-coverts, buff ; a broad 
chocolate-colored patch in the centre of the breast ; 
and the bill and legs, pinkish, — all together a 
very richly marked bird. Its home is in north- 
ern Africa, but it occasionally wanders into 
Europe, and two specimens have been taken in 
this country, one on Long Island, the other in 
Maryland. As this species has never been found 
on the Atlantic islands, and is often kept in 
aviaries, it is probable that these birds escaped 
from captivity ; but the above description will be 
of assistance to any one who should chance to 
shoot another. 

Another interesting African goose has a spur 
on the bend of the wing ; and a third, in addition, 
a high knob on the forehead. One goose inhabits 
the high Andes of western South America, com- 
ing down to the plains only in winter ; and there 
exists in the tropics of the Old World a group of 
small geese, not larger than a teal, which differ 
also from other geese in spending most of their 
time in the water. 

But the strangest of all strange geese live in 
Australia and New Zealand. The Australian bird 
is large, with a glossy, greenish black plumage, 
relieved by pure white shoulders, rump, and lower 



Goose-shooting 2 1 9 

parts. Its toes are webbed only to the first joint, 
and a warty skin extends from the nail of the bill 
to behind the eye. Its habits are said to resemble 
those of a crane more than a goose. The New 
Zealand bird is still more peculiar. Its feet are 
but little more webbed than the last, and its short, 
thick bill is covered from the nail with a light 
yellow skin, similar to that on a hawk. It is a 
large and heavy bird, with short legs, brownish 
ashy in color, and inhabits the dry interior plains, 
never going near the water. 

LESSER SNOW GOOSE 
{Chen hyperbored) 

Adult male and female — Entire plumage with the exception of 
primaries, snow-white; the head sometimes tinged with rusty 
anteriorly ; primaries, jet-black ; primary coverts, ash-gray ; bill, 
pink ; nail, white ; feet, pink or purplish pink ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 25.50 inches ; wing, 15.75 inches; tarsus, 
3.30 inches ; culmen, 2.10 inches. 

Young — Plumage, ashy gray, becoming white on chin, abdomen, 
lesser wing-coverts, base of primary coverts, tail-coverts, and tail ; 
bill and feet, a dirty pink; the adult plumage is not fully 
acquired before fourth year. 

Eggs — Four to six in number, of a yellowish white color, and meas- 
ure 3 by 2 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Arctic coast of Alaska, from Kotzebue 
Sound to Point Barrow and probably east to Liverpool Bay. 
Winters from British Columbia, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and 
Kansas, south to California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and 
Mexico, and very rarely in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey ; very rare 
east of the Mississippi, but reported as a straggler in Michigan, 



2 20 The IVater-fowl Family 

Indiana, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Recorded also from north- 
eastern Asia, Japan, Hawaii, and Europe, and this, or Ch. h. 
nivalis, from Bermuda. 

For a long time no distinction was made between 
the snow geese. There is, however, no doubt as 
to the two separate races, although a differentia- 
tion depending entirely on size is rather unsatis- 
factory. Careful observation has demonstrated 
the fact that the lesser variety is strictly inland 
and western in its distribution, occurring from the 
Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast, while the 
greater snow goose is found casually inland, but 
most commonly along the Atlantic. Both varie- 
ties breed in the far Arctic regions. 

The lesser snow goose is very abundant through- 
out the northern Mississippi Valley, arriving in 
Dakota early in October and wintering in Texas 
and about the Gulf. There is also a migration 
along the Pacific Coast, the birds being found 
throughout California and far into Mexico during 
the winter. The breeding-ground is so far within 
the Arctic circle that the Indians and Eskimo 
north of Hudson Bay tell of the birds still flying 
on. The nest has seldom been taken. Along 
the Yukon they are common in the spring, but do 
not breed in the vicinity, nor do they return by 
this route in the fall. Throughout the northern 
parts of Hudson Bay this species is very abun- 
dant in early May, arriving in small flocks, soon 



Goose-shooting 221 

congregating in vast numbers. Here they are 
exposed to slaughter by the Indians, who depend 
upon them extensively at this season for food, 
shooting them on the feeding-grounds at night. 
Their habit of huddling together at the approach 
of a light enables many to be killed at a single 
shot. The young fly by the middle of August, 
and early in October the first relays appear 
within our boundary. While sharing the resorts 
of other wild fowl they keep to themselves, usually 
quiet; if excited or started from their roosting- 
place, the din is inconceivable. The flight, in 
lines, is strong and far out of range. As the vast 
flocks pass overhead they whiten the sky and, 
alighting, give the earth the appearance of snow. 
No more impressive sight can be conceived than 
the countless numbers of these birds covering the 
prairie, — unfortunately, now a scene of the past. 
Recently, the writer saw this goose in large flocks 
in northern Mexico about May 10. They fre- 
quented a large, shallow lake on the mesa. He 
was informed that quite a number remained 
throughout the summer, but according to the 
natives never bred. This small remnant was 
likely composed of barren geese. 

In the sections of North Dakota where this 
goose is abundant in spring, at the first break of 
dawn the flocks start for the feeding-ground, which 
may be ten or fifteen miles from the lake on whose 



2 22 The H^afer-fowl Family 

borders they have passed the night. Where one 
flock alights the others follow, and soon the 
ground is white. They feed among the wheat 
stubble or on the young marsh-grass. The bor- 
ders of a slough where they have fed looks as if 
cut by a machine. About noon they go back to 
the lake, and toward the middle of the afternoon 
start again for the feeding-ground, which may be 
a totally different locality from that of the morn- 
ing, to return once more to the lake as the sun 
sinks to rest. 

Snow geese are shy and difficult of approach, 
but occasionally can be ridden upon from horse- 
back, or even will allow a wagon to be driven 
within range, especially if a heavy wind be taken 
advantage of. Decoys seldom attract them unless 
of their own kind. Passes sometimes offer excel- 
lent shooting, and many are killed as they fly from 
feeding-grounds on the stubble to neighboring 
water. The food consists of water vegetables and 
grasses of all kinds, berries, and grain when the 
locality affords it. The flesh does not stand in 
high repute, though in places the young birds are 
prized. The snow goose bears domestication, and 
there are numerous instances of its confinement. 
In cases where barnyard geese are mated with it 
the eggs are unproductive. Mr. Ross speaks of 
an instance where a fur trader in the Red River 
settlement domesticated a pair of these birds, one 



Goose-shooting 223 

of which died. The next fall, as a flock of snow- 
geese was passing over, one of them separated 
from the others, mating with the tame goose, and 
remained through the winter. The following 
spring it rejoined its brethren and proceeded 
north. In the fall it again returned. This is 
said to have been repeated for several years. 
(B. B. & R.) 

Perhaps the most common name for this bird 
is the white brant. In localities it is called white 
wavey. By the Russians it is known as barley 
goose. The weight of the snow goose is from 
four to six pounds. 

GREATER SNOW GOOSE 

{Chen hyperborea nivalis) 

Adult male and female — General plumage, white, with black pri- 
maries, and primary coverts, ash ; frequently a rusty tinge on 
head anteriorly ; bill and feet, pink ; iris, brown. 

The young bird has a grayish tinge to neck, head, and upper 
part. This bird resembles the lesser snow goose precisely, 
differing from it only in size. 

Measurements — Total length, 34 inches ; wing, 17.50 inches ; tarsus, 
3.30 inches ; culmen, 2.60 inches ; the average difference in 
measurement between these two varieties is length, 9 inches ; 
wing, 1.70 inches; tarsus, .70 inch. 

Habitat — Breeds in northern Greenland, and possibly at Liverpool 
Bay, and the Barren Grounds on the Arctic Coast, south to Hud- 
son Bay. Winters chiefly on the Atlantic Coast of North Caro- 
lina, occurring rarely at this season also in New Brunswick, 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and south to 
Florida, Key West, and Cuba ; also on the Gulf Coast of Louisi- 
ana and Texas, occasionally north to western New York, Ohio, 



224 The IVater-fowl Family 

and Michigan. In the migrations occurs rarely east to New- 
foundland, and west to Manitoba, Assiniboia (?), Alberta (?), 
North Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

This species can nowhere be said to be com- 
mon. It is found most frequently along the 
coast of Virginia and North Carolina, where it 
winters in the sounds and bays, arriving in early 
November and leaving in March. At times the 
bird is abundant in Cuba. Dr. Degland, accord- 
ing to Mr. Dresser, states that when Cienaga de 
Zapata begins to dry up, portions are covered 
with snow geese, and he had killed at least thirty 
in one season. (B. B. & R.) 

North of the Chesapeake the bird is rare. Snow 
geese are taken occasionally off the coast of Maine. 
Small flocks are sometimes seen on Long Island. 
Along the New Jersey coast they are more abun- 
dant and go by the name of red geese, probably 
from the color of the bill and legs. 

July lo, 1893, ^ specimen of the downy young 
of the greater snow goose was obtained together 
with the adult female at Glazier Valley, Green- 
land. (Lieutenant Peary's Expedition.) 

Nests of snow geese have been found near 
Liverpool Bay. They were placed on a small 
island in a lake in holes in sandy soil, and were 
well lined with down. (B. B. & R.) 

Its habits are similar to those of the lesser snow 
goose. The bird is a high, strong flyer, the flight 



Goose-shooting 225 

being in lines. It seldom utters any note, though 
occasionally, when attracted by other geese, or 
wounded, a shrill honk is heard. A white line of 
these birds along the shore or high in air is a 
beautiful sight. On Currituck Bay small flocks 
are not infrequently seen along the sand-bars, 
where they are occasionally shot over live geese 
decoys, or sometimes when a straggler comes 
within range of the blind. In one of the clubs, 
among the decoy geese, is a live, domesticated bird 
of this species, almost as large as a Canada goose. 
Grasses growing under water, various vege- 
tables, and small crustaceans are its diet. The 
flesh is not prized for food. The weight is from 
six to ten pounds. 

BLUE GOOSE 
{Chen ccerulescens) 

Adult male and female — Yit2A and upper half of the neck, white, 
sometimes washed with rusty anteriorly ; back and breast, dark 
slate; the feathers tipped with lighter brown; wing-coverts, 
blue-gray ; secondaries, dark brown, edged with white ; prima- 
ries, black, fading into gray; flanks, brownish gray; under 
parts, gray ; rump, upper and under tail-coverts, grayish ; tail, 
deep brownish gray, bordered with white; bill and feet, red- 
dish ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — To\A length, 28 inches; wings, 16 inches; tar- 
sus, 3.10 inches; culmen, 2.20 inches. 

Ftf««^— Somewhat similar, but less showy; the head and neck, 
gray-brown, with a white chin ; the body more cinereous than in 
the adult ; bill and feet, dusky. 

Habitat — 'Bv&eds probably on the northeastern shores of Hudson 
Bay. Winters chiefly on the coast of Louisiana, occasionally 

Q 



226 The PVater-fowl Family 

up the Mississippi Valley to Illinois. Migrates through the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, west to Manitoba and North Dakota. Occurs 
very rarely in migration or winter in California and in Ontario, 
Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Brunswick (?), 
Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jer- 
sey (?), North Carolina, Florida (?), and the West Indies. 

For a long time the blue goose was supposed 
to be the young of the snow goose, but it is now 
established as a distinct species. 

This bird occurs throughout North America. 
In Dakota, and along the Mississippi Valley, 
small numbers are killed on the fall migration. 
On the Pacific Coast the bird has not been taken, 
and is very rare on the Atlantic, a specimen hav- 
ing been recorded on Grand Manan. 

The breeding-ground is supposed to be in the 
impassable bogs lying northeast of Labrador, 
the geese nesting on the solid and dry tufts in 
the morasses. (B. B. & R.) The eggs and nest 
have not been found. 

In the spring James Bay is crossed by the blue 
geese, coming from the east in flocks by them- 
selves. In the United States the bird arrives in 
early October, leaving late in March. It is most 
frequently seen in flocks of snow geese, and un- 
doubtedly accompanies the white-fronted goose, 
though its presence with the latter would be less 
easily detected. Its southern migration extends 
to Louisiana and the Gulf. The habits resemble 
those of the snow goose. Its flesh is palatable. 



Goose-shooting 227 

Other names for this bird are blue snow goose, 
blue wavey, bald-headed goose, white-headed goose, 
blue brant, blue-winged goose. In its full spring 
plumage, the blue goose is seldom taken in the 
limits of the United States, and it is perhaps the 
rarest of our geese. 

Ross's SNOW GOOSE 
{Chen rossii) 

Adult male and female — Plumage, entirely snowy white; the pri- 
maries are black, fading into gray; bill and feet, dull red; the 
base of the bill is covered with wartlike corrugations, though 
this is not always the case; loral feathering forming a nearly 
straight line on upper mandible. This outline is convex in the 
other members of the genus. 

Young — White, with a grayish cast; bill and feet, dusky. 

Measurements — Length, 23 inches; wing, 14.50 inches; tarsus, 
2.75 inches; culmen, 1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Arctic America, exact place unknown. Win- 
ters in California south to Orange County, and in Mexico. 
Occurs in migrations from Hudson Bay and North Dakota, 
west to Fort Anderson, Great Slave Lake, British Columbia, 
and Oregon. 

This little goose is the smallest of all the geese, 
weighing less than three pounds, — smaller, if any- 
thing, than a mallard duck. It is one of the rarer 
varieties, being found occasionally in flocks of the 
lesser snow goose, sometimes by itself. In Mon- 
tana and Dakota this bird occurs sparingly. It 
has been seen in large flocks in the San Joaquin 
Valley. The bird has a cackling cry, but in its 
flight and habits resembles the larger members of 



2 28 The Water-fowl Family 

the family. The breeding-ground is in the re- 
motest North ; the nest and eggs have not been 
taken. The flesh is delicate and palatable. 
The only specimen of the Ross's goose coming 
under my observation was shot by Mr. Sheldon 
in northern Mexico. It was one of a pair, and 
was found along the edge of a shallow lake. It 
is also known as the horned wavey, referring to 
the excrescences about the bill. 

EUROPEAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 

(Anser albifrons) 

Differs from the American subspecies in having a slightly shorter 
bill (culmen, 1.60 to 1.75 inches), a shorter tarsus (2.25 to 2.80 
inches), and usually paler lower parts. Specimens intermediate 
in the coloring of lower parts have been taken in Great Britain 
and Iceland, and intermediates in measurements in western 
Greenland. 

Habitat — Breeds in the northern parts of the eastern hemisphere, 
including Iceland, north to Nova Zembla and the Yenisei River 
above 72° north, and passes south in winter to Egypt, India, 
China, etc. Of doubtful record from southeastern Greenland. 

The habits of this bird are similar to those of 
its American relative. 

AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 

(Anser albifrons gambeli) 

Adult male and fetnale — Forehead and base of bill, white ; re- 
mainder of head and neck, brown ; back and wings, ashy ; feath- 
ers tipped with brown on the upper parts ; the lower parts, of a 
gray cast with black blotches. The variation among individuals 
of this species is extensive, the lower parts, in some instances, 



Goose-shooting 229 

having but one or two black spots ; in others, the black pre- 
dominates ; upper and under tail-coverts, white ; tail, dark 
brown, bordered with white ; bill, yellowish white ; feet, yellow ; 
iris, brown. 

Young — Head and neck, dark brown; under parts, brownish gray 
without the black marking. 

Downy young — Above, olive-green; below, greenish yellow. 

Measure7nents — Length, 28 inches; wings, 15.25 inches; tarsus, 
2.60 to 3.20 inches; culmen, 1.80 to 2.30 inches. 

Eggs — Five to seven in number, of a dull white color, and measure 
3 by 2 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in western Greenland north to 72°, on the coast 
and islands of the Arctic west to Bering Strait and northeastern 
Siberia, and on the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea to the lower 
Yukon, and is said to breed on the coast of British Columbia 
south to Vancouver Island. Winters on the Atlantic Coast 
rarely, from New Jersey and North Carolina to Florida and 
Cuba; on the coast of Louisiana and Texas, south into Mexico, 
and rarely north to Illinois and possibly Ohio ; in Arizona, and 
on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Lower California 
and Mexico. Abundant on the Pacific Coast in migration ; tol- 
erably common in the western Mississippi Valley, and rare east 
to the Atlantic Coast, where it occurs irregularly as far north as 
northeastern Labrador. Occurs also in Japan and Hawaii. 

Mr. MacFarlane found this species breeding 
abundantly on the Arctic Coast and in the islands 
of the Arctic Sea. The nest is composed of 
grasses, down, and feathers, situated frequently in 
wooded districts in the vicinity of fresh-water lakes. 
The breeding-ground is on the Anderson River, 
the shores of Bering Straits, and the Commander 
Islands. Incubation is established early in July, 
during which time the birds spend much of their 
time on land, feeding on berries and various 



230 The IVater-fowl Family 

grasses. By the middle of July the young are 
hatched and the family take to the water. The 
bird first appears within our limits in September, 
arriving in small flocks of from ten to thirty, the 
young birds accompanying the old. They fly in 
lines and wedges, making a great deal of noise, a 
sort of discordant cackle. The flock is usually 
heard before it is seen. When a suitable feeding- 
ground has been selected, which is often a wheat 
stubble, the birds frequent it until the food supply 
is exhausted, or a few shots have made them wise. 
They quickly learn danger and become exceed- 
ingly wary ; sentinels are appointed, and if once 
disturbed while feeding, seldom return to the same 
field. They make frequent trips to neighboring 
waters for a drink and rest, their flight announced 
by the loudest din ; on these journeys, early in the 
morning and in the evening, their chosen time for 
moving, many of them are killed. It is usually 
an easy matter for the hunter to select his posi- 
tion, as the line of flight varies but little. The 
first small flocks are seen in the late afternoon. 
From then on until dark they come in continu- 
ous stream, all following in the same straight 
course. Occasionally the bird is killed from pits 
dug on the feeding-grounds, and sometimes it will 
hail to Canada geese decoys. The food of this bird 
consists of various water-grasses ; in Kentucky, of 
beechnuts and acorns. Where opportunity af- 




WHITE-FRONTED OR GAMBEL'S GEESE 



Goose-shooting 231 

fords, it visits the grain-fields, greedily feeding on 
the corn and wheat stubble. The bird is excel- 
lent for the table, particularly the young. Other 
names for this species are laughing goose, speckled 
belly, speckled brant, gray brant. 

BEAN GOOSE 

(Afiser fabalis) 

Adult male andfetnale — Upper parts, dark brown, edged with gray- 
ish white ; head and neck, grayish brown, darkest on the head, 
with a white patch on forehead ; rump, brownish black ; wings, 
brown ; coverts, grayish, edged with white ; breast, pale brown ; 
sides and flanks, brown with pale edges ; upper and under tail- 
coverts, abdomen, and vent, white ; bill, black with a middle 
part of deep orange ; iris, dark brown ; legs and feet, orange. 

Measurements — Length, 32 inches; wing, 19 inches; culmen, 2.30 
inches ; tarsus, 3.10 inches. 

Female averages somewhat smaller than the male. 

Habitat — Breeds in northern Europe and northern Asia, from 
Russian Lapland east to the Yenisei River, and north to Nova 
Zembla. Winters south to southern Europe, northern Africa, 
China, etc. Recorded from northern Greenland. 

The only reason for admitting the bean goose 
to the check-list of North American birds is the 
fact that a single specimen in the museum at 
Copenhagen is stated to have come from Green- 
land. 

Though often common in Europe and Asia in 
migrations and in winter, the bean goose, like so 
many others of its relatives, seeks the far North 
to raise its young. There it lays five or six eggs. 
It feeds in the open fields, is very shy, and is less 



2 32 The JVater-fowl Family 

aquatic in its habits than most water-fowl. If 
chased during the moulting season, when from 
the loss of its primaries it is unable to fly, it will 
attempt to escape observation by flattening it- 
self on the ground with its head thrust forward, 
and will not take to the water unless absolutely 
cornered. 

CANADA GOOSE 

{Branta canadensis) 

Adult male and female — Head and neck, black with a white patch 
on each cheek extending across the throat ; upper parts, dark 
brown ; feathers tipped with lighter ; lower parts, paler than the 
upper, the light gray sometimes fading into white about the 
anal region ; primaries, rump, and tail, black ; upper and under 
tail-coverts, white ; legs, feet, and bill, black ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Average length, 38 inches ; wing, 18 inches ; tarsus, 
3 inches; culmen, 2.15 inches. 

Young — Similar to the adult, but the white cheek patches are 
speckled with black, and they are somewhat smaller. 

Downy young — Above, golden olive-green ; below forehead and 
sides of head, pale greenish yellow. 

Eggs — Five to nine in number, dull white, measure 3.50 by 2.50 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Newfoundland and Anticosti, Indiana, pos- 
sibly Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, 
Nevada, and Oregon, north to northern Labrador, Hudson Bay, 
lower Mackenzie, the interior of Alaska ( ?), and Cook Inlet ( ?) ; 
said to have formerly bred in Massachusetts, and a set of eggs 
recorded from Tennessee. Winters from New Jersey, occasionally 
north to Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, Ohio, 
Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota rarely, Nebraska, 
Utah, Oregon, and British Columbia, south to Florida, Jamaica, 
the Gulf states, Mexico, and Los Angeles County, California. 
Less common on the Pacific Coast. Occurs in Bermuda. 



Goose-shooting 233 

Formerly the wild goose bred throughout tem- 
perate North America, and at the present time 
occasionally breeds within our boundary, in North 
Dakota and the adjacent states. The large body 
of western geese, however, pass on to the country 
lying north and west of Hudson Bay, the At- 
lantic geese breeding in Labrador and to the north 
and west of it, and in Newfoundland. In the Hud- 
son Bay region they are among the first spring 
arrivals, and the foremost stragglers are seen in 
April. By early May large numbers have arrived ; 
for a time they remain in flocks, and frequent the 
shores and shallow water, but soon separate into 
pairs and select some small inland lake or marsh. 
The nest is usually on the ground, carefully formed 
of grasses and weeds, of large size and somewhat 
raised. Sometimes a stump is chosen, and there 
are instances of the birds nesting in trees, using 
the deserted nests of hawks or ravens. 

In the Okanogan district of British Columbia 
the Canada goose is said to breed frequently in 
trees in the deserted nests of hawks. Mr. Charles 
de B. Green reports finding there in the same 
nest in a tree, two eggs of the osprey and three of 
this species, both ospreys and Canada geese being 
present and complaining. One egg of the goose 
was left in the nest, and a week later he found the 
osprey sitting on this tgg while the geese were 
not seen in the vicinity. 



234 The Water-fowl Family 

The little goslings at once accompany the old 
birds to the water and quickly become expert in 
diving and hiding. In July the parents moult, and 
are for a time unable to fly. While in this help- 
less state they are eagerly hunted by natives. 
The mortality at this time might account for the 
fact that we seldom see more than three young 
birds in one family. Early in September they re- 
assemble on the larger bodies of water and await 
a favorable time for departure. Restless at the 
thought of the long flight, with the first fair wind 
the procession starts. Small flocks lead the way, 
and soon the entire multitude has gone. Shortly 
we hear them within our boundaries. By the 
middle of October they are well established for 
the fall, and no visitor is more welcome. Their 
honking tells of frosts and cold nights. The ad- 
vance guards appear in Dakota, Minnesota, and 
Montana, and along the coasts at about the same 
time. Successive relays augment the first comers, 
and by early November they congregate in vast 
flocks. As they assemble on their favorite feed- 
ing-grounds, the host presents an impressive 
sight. The ground selected is well protected 
from any attack, no foe can approach unnoticed 
and unchallenged. Ever on the alert and wary, 
the flock is guarded by sentinels tried in the 
service, who know well the arts of man. While 
undisturbed they indulge in more or less gabble 



Goose-shooting 235 

among themselves, but when their suspicions are 
aroused — silence ! Every neck is craned, another 
second and flapping wings announce they are off. 
There is no alarm cry, and only when once under 
way and out of danger is their honking heard. 
The flight is in lines or wedges, the birds in 
regular array under the command of an experi- 
enced gander. On the migrations their power of 
flight is remarkable. All day long, and the dis- 
tant music at night, tells of the tedious journey 
far overhead still going on. Straight for the 
destination, they seldom tarry and then only when 
weariness or storm compel. Under these cir- 
cumstances the birds are occasionally visitors in 
unexpected places. One spring two young 
Canada geese were seen in a cemetery on the 
outskirts of New Haven, and remained in the 
vicinity for a day or more. 

The majority of geese frequenting the Atlantic 
states follow the coast line in the fall, tarrying in 
the large shallow bays of Massachusetts, Long 
Island, and New Jersey, but wintering in the 
Chesapeake and off North and South Carolina. 
Those passing through the middle of the United 
States travel along the Mississippi Valley and 
winter in Texas, Louisiana, and the adjacent Gulf 
Coast. 

The approximate dates of occurrence in these 
localities are : Massachusetts, Long Island, and 



236 The PVater-fowl Family 

New Jersey, November 20 to December 15, 
March 7 to April i ; Chesapeake Bay and south, 
November 15 to March i; Dakota, Minnesota, 
and Montana, October 15 to December i, March 
1 5 to April 7 ; Kansas and Nebraska, a little 
earlier in the spring and later in the fall. South 
of the United States the bird is not abundant. 

In Massachusetts the small fresh-water lakes 
near the coast were formerly favorite resorts for 
Canada geese in spring and late fall, and at the 
present time many are killed by the clubs now 
in possession of the best locations. Here trained 
wild geese are employed and decoying reaches 
its highest art. Blinds are built in close prox- 
imity to the club-house, surrounded by a large 
stand of wooden stools. Just outside of these 
the live birds are tied. A watcher is on duty 
day and night. If the honking of a far-off flock 
is heard, fliers are let loose ; geese that fly within 
sight of the wild birds, perhaps mingle with them, 
then returning to the decoys. In this way the 
entire flock is brought within range and exposed 
to a merciless fire. 

Along the coast of North Carolina most of the 
geese in quiet weather spend the day well out of 
reach offshore, or if much molested in the safe 
retreat of the ocean, crossing the bars at the inter- 
vals to feed and drink, at dusk seeking the shelter 
of the bays. When stormy or windy they remain 



Goose- shooting 237 

inside, frequenting protected water and the larger 
ponds on the marshes. Now is the best oppor- 
tunity for shooting them. Live Canada geese 
decoys are staked out in front of the blinds, care 
being taken to tie them in water they can walk 
in. The favorite locations are small bodies of 
water or bays in close proximity to the feeding- 
ground, or points and bars along the line of flight. 
Should heavy weather break up the large flocks 
and drive the birds low down, they come to the 
stool readily and often forty or fifty are killed in 
a day. The wild decoy appreciates well his part 
and uses all the means in his power to allure the 
on-coming birds, calling to them and flapping his 
wings. 

In the Western states geese feed on stubbles, 
and they are shot from blinds or pits. If not 
much hunted they decoy readily, but soon learn 
to avoid danger. The bird is very fond of spend- 
ing the night on fresh-water ponds and lakes, and 
this habit is taken advantage of. At dusk or soon 
after they begin to arrive, small flocks leading up 
against the wind, each in the same line. Honk- 
ing usually betrays their presence, louder and 
louder until a black line appears for an instant 
overhead, and the thud of a falling bird follows 
the gun's flash. A little of this shooting teaches 
them to come to their resting-place from various 
directions, high up, and often noiselessly. 



238 The PVater-f owl Family 

When once quiet for the night, they can read- 
ily be approached by a Hght, huddUng together 
at the strange sight. Night hunting, however, 
is at the present time in less repute than formerly 
and is fortunately little resorted to. Geese are 
sometimes killed in numbers from ice blinds, 
when small holes of open water are all that 
remain in the frozen bay. This method is fre- 
quently employed along the northern coast, Nova 
Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and Cape Breton. 
A wounded goose is often exceedingly difficult to 
capture, swimming and diving well or skulking 
with the head just in sight. The food consists of 
various water grasses and vegetables, shellfish 
and Crustacea ; grain, when the locality affords it ; 
in the summer, insects and berries. 

For the table the young bird is excellent, and 
it is a common practice in shooting them, to pick 
out when possible the smaller geese, for the old 
birds are generally decidedly larger. 

The Canada goose has long been domesticated 
and often breeds in captivity. When once two 
captive birds have paired, they not infrequently 
breed regularly. I saw a pair of Canada geese 
on the Magdalen Islands that raised a brood 
each spring, selecting for their nest a large brush 
pile, some hundred yards from the house. The 
gander carefully protected the nest during the 
absence of the goose, keeping off any intruder. 



Goose-shooting 239 

The hybrids with domestic geese are common 
and supposed to be a superior market bird. 
While hunted relentlessly from the breeding- 
ground to the winter home, the cunning of the 
wild goose has stood him well, and it is a pleasant 
thought to feel that, perhaps, one member of our 
family of water-fowl holds his own. 

HUTCHINS' GOOSE 
{Branta canadensis hutchinsit) 

Similar to the Canada goose in plumage, but smaller in size. Tail 
of 14 to 16 feathers ; in Canada goose, 1 8 to 20 feathers. 

Measurements — Length, 30 inches; wing, 16.25 inches; tail, 5 
inches ; tarsus, 2.75 inches. 

Eggs — Six to eight in number, dull white, measure 3 by 2.05 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Hudson Bay and possibly British Columbia 
north probably to Cumberland, the coasts and islands of the 
Arctic near Fort Anderson and Kotzebue Sound, the Bering 
Sea coast of Alaska, and on the Aleutian, Commander, and 
Kuril islands. Winters from Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, and 
British Columbia, south to Louisiana, Texas, California, San 
Quentin Bay, Lower California, Arizona, and doubtless Mexico. 
In the migrations, very rare east of the Mississippi Valley, but 
recorded from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Maine, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and North 
Carolina. Recorded also from Japan. 

While resembling the Canada goose in plu- 
mage, the Hutchins' goose is readily distinguished 
by its size and by the different character of the 
note. As a rule the bird is less wary. 

On the eastern coast specimens of the Hutchins' 



240 The IVater-fowl Family 

goose have been taken off Cape Cod, and at 
times appear in Boston markets from this locality. 
On Long Island the bird is well known, though 
rare, and goes by the name of mud goose. Off 
North and South Carolina this goose is occasion- 
ally seen in small flocks by itself, or in company 
with the Canada geese. Here it is called gab- 
bling goose. Along the Pacific Coast the bird is 
a common variety, appearing early in October, 
and frequenting the salt-water marshes, often 
going a considerable distance back from the shore. 

When inland, they are sometimes approached 
on horseback or driven upon by oxen. Many 
are killed in the line of flight. They decoy readily 
on their feeding-grounds. Their food consists 
of shellfish and Crustacea, various water vege- 
tables, and when opportunity provides, grain. 
The flesh, at times fishy, if the birds have been 
feeding inland may be excellent, and is of a 
whiter character than that of the Canada goose. 
In Dakota and along the Mississippi Valley, the 
Hutchins' goose is more common in spring than 
fall, large flocks passing through the interior in 
March on their way north. 

The breeding-ground is within the Arctic cir- 
cle, on the shores and islands of the Arctic Sea, 
also on the lower Anderson River. 

The birds separate from the flock in pairs early 
in June; the nest is placed in marshes near the 



Gooses booting 241 

shore or on the sand beaches. It has been found 
near the base of cUffs, in company with the nests 
of other sea-birds. In one instance the deserted 
nest of a crow, in a tree about nine feet from the 
ground, was utilized. This might have been 
accounted for by the fact that the ground was 
covered with snow. (B. B. & R.) 

The weight of this bird is from three to six 
pounds. Other names are Httle Canada goose, 
little gray goose, prairie goose, bay goose. 

THE WHITE-CHEEKED GOOSE 

(Brania canadensis occidentaJis) 

This form is the western representative of the Canada goose, found 
along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California. A differen- 
tiation is perhaps questionable, and the two varieties un- 
doubtedly occur in company with each other. The distinction 
is in the back and wings, which are of a lighter brown than in 
the Canada goose, the lower parts being almost as dark, and by 
a white collar around the lower part of the neck, where the 
black terminates ; this collar is noticed in the fall and winter, 
but is absent in the spring and summer plumage. The meas- 
urements are similar to those of Branta canadensis. 

Habitat — Breeds from northeastern California to Sitka, and possi- 
bly Cook Inlet, Alaska. Winters chiefly in the interior of Cali- 
fornia. Reported from Michigan, and thought to occur at Fort 
Anderson ; both probably mistakes. 

The white-cheeked goose has a limited distri- 
bution, and is not a particularly well-known bird. 
In the winter it ranges south into the interior of 
California. 



242 The IVater-fowl Family 

These birds breed in detached pairs in Okano- 
gan County, Washington, sometimes gathering 
in the fields to feed. A nest found there by Mr. 
WilHam L. Dawson was situated on a shelf of 
rock directly over the gorge of the Columbia 
River. Four goslings, bright grass-green in 
color, mottled with olive, nestled there on a bed 
of down, the female flying from the nest as Mr. 
Dawson approached. 

CACKLING GOOSE 

{Bernicla canadensis tnmima') 

This species bears the same relation to the white-cheeked goose as 
Hutchins' goose does to the Canada. 

Adult — The white cheek patches are separated by a black bar 
about .75 an inch wide. It has a white collar at the base of the 
black neck, between it and the upper gray of the breast. Tail 
feathers 14 in number. In the young bird the white collar is 
less marked. 

Measurements — Length, 24 inches ; wing, 13.50 to 14 inches; cul- 
men, i.io inches; tarsus, 2.50 inches. 

Eggs — Five to eight in number, white, measure 2.80 by 1.95 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Alaskan shores of Bering Sea, chiefly on 
or near the lower Yukon. Winters from British Columbia 
south to Ventura County, California. Reported in the migra- 
tions from the Pribilof and Aleutian islands, and Hawaii, and 
in the United States as far east as Michigan, Wisconsin, and 
Colorado. 

The cackling goose differs from the white- 
cheeked goose in its smaller size and in the 
number of its tail feathers, which, in the former 
variety, are eighteen to twenty in number. It 



Goose-shooting 243 

differs from the Hutchins' goose in the black bar 
separating the white cheek patches, and in having 
a white collar about the neck. Both of these are 
wanting in the Hutchins'. It also averages some- 
what smaller, being next to the Ross's goose, the 
smallest of our geese. 

This goose ranges from the mouth of the 
Yukon along the coast to southern California, 
and in localities is a common variety. Through 
the Mississippi Valley the bird occurs but rarely. 
The summer home is in Alaska, about the mouth 
of the Yukon, where it breeds in large numbers, 
and quantities of the birds and eggs are taken by 
the natives for food. The nest is on the ground, 
generally close to water, and composed of grass 
or reeds, and lined with down. The young birds 
are hatched in early July, and by September are 
gathered in flocks, appearing along our Pacific 
Coast early in October. The note distinguishes 
it from the larger geese, being a low honk. 
The flesh is excellent. 

COMMON BRANT 
(^Branta bernicla) 

Similar to Branta bernicla glaucogastra, but with the lower parts as 
dark as in Branta ttigricans ; the white on the neck, however, 
not meeting in front. 

Habitat — Breeds "in the Taimur Peninsula, Siberia, in Nova 
Zembla, Franz-Josef Land, and Spitzbergen." (Seebohm fide 
Coues.) Passes south in the winter on the coasts of Asia and 



244 The IVater-fowl Family 



northern Europe as far as Egypt. Possibly some of the birds 
from eastern North America, identified as B. nigricans, belong 
to this form. 



BRANT GOOSE. WHITE-BELLIED BRANT. 

COMMON BRANT 

{Branta bernicla glaucogastrd) 

Adult male and female — Head, neck, and upper part of breast, and 
back at base of neck, black ; transverse streaks of white on 
each side of the middle of the neck ; above, brownish gray, the 
feathers tipped with a paler shade ; under parts, grayish white ; 
anal region, pure white ; middle of rump, dark brown ; upper 
and under tail-coverts, white; tail, black; bill, legs, and feet, 
black ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 24 to 30 inches; wing, 13 inches; tarsus, 
2.40 inches; culmen, 1.50 inches. 

Young — Plumage similar to the adult, but with white bars across 
the wings. The white patch on the neck is less marked or 
absent entirely ; under parts lighter. 

Eggs — Four to six in number, grayish white, measure 2.70 by 1.80 
inches. 

Habitat — "Breeds only within the Arctic Circle." (Coues.) "In 
Arctic America, from the west coast of Greenland as far 
west as the Parry Islands, and north of latitude 73° as far 
as land is known to extend." (Seebohmyf^i? Coues.) This 
bird has been said to breed on the coasts and islands of 
Hudson Bay, and the interior of Labrador, north to the 
Arctic Sea, and at Pointe des Monts, Quebec, but probably 
all are mistakes. Winters on the Atlantic Coast, from 
Massachusetts south to North Carolina, and rarely to Florida ; 
is common on the St. Lawrence River in migration, but 
rare elsewhere in the interior, occurring west to Manitoba, 
Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Louisiana 
and Texas (?), and reported also from western New 
York, Ohio (?), Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 
Occurs also in Great Britain, but less frequently than B. 
bernicla. 



Goose-shooting 245 

The breeding-ground of the brant is in the 
remote North, and the nest was first discovered 
by Mr. Feilden, June 21, 1875, in latitude 82° 33'. 
Subsequently, it has been found breeding abun- 
dantly on Parry Islands, the nests being numer- 
ous and in close proximity to each other. They 
were placed on the beach, well lined with down 
and feathers, and contained from three to four 
eggs. (B. B. & R.) About Bellot's Strait the birds 
were found nesting in the cliffs. The brant reach 
their breeding-grounds late in June, and soon 
pair off. The gander protects the nest in the 
absence of the goose. In July and early August 
the old birds moult, and at this time are killed in 
numbers by the natives, who salt them for winter 
use. With the first favorable winds in late Sep- 
tember, the migration south begins. They arrive 
at the winter quarters, in the vicinity of the Chesa- 
peake and the coast to the south, about the first 
of November, spending but little time en route. 
The birds are first seen on Long Island by the 
middle of October, and at this time show evidence 
of a long flight, being in poor flesh and ready to 
spend most of their time at rest. Off the North 
and South Carolina coasts, the brant gather in 
vast flocks, in calm weather remaining bedded in 
great numbers; they fly at intervals from one 
feeding-ground to another, the entire flock mov- 
ing at once. The flight is in long, wavy lines, 



246 The IVater-fowl Family 

one minute high up, the next just over the water's 
edge. This undulating character is unmistakable, 
and marks the birds afar. They keep in the open 
water, avoiding carefully the points of land and 
the bush blinds which are scattered through the 
bay, settling on the beds of eel grass that abound 
in these shallow sounds. They pluck it up in 
quantities, feeding at their leisure. While feed- 
ing, the body is kept above water, the bird dipping 
down with its neck. Brant have a peculiar fond- 
ness for sand, and their habit of frequenting the 
bars and beaches is known as "sanding." The 
noise from a large number is great, being a ronk, 
ronk. During windy or stormy weather the birds 
become uneasy and restless. The congregation 
breaks up into small flocks. String after string 
is seen following the same certain line of flight. 
Now they decoy readily. If on the point of pass- 
ing by without noticing, a quick motion from the 
blind will often attract attention to the stool. 
One or two birds circle, and the flock swings 
in. A wounded bird is easily captured, as it 
does not dive, but skulks with the head out of 
water. 

On Long Island, batteries, anchored in the line 
of flight and surrounded by a large number of 
decoys, are employed. Occasionally the birds 
lead within range of the smaller islands, though 
seldom flying over land. 



Goose-shooting 247 

On Cape Cod, brant are found in the spring 
and fall ; they are shot from boxes sunk on the 
long sandy points, reaching out into the bay or 
on the bars. Live brant decoys are used if possi- 
ble. Here the flight is regulated by the tides, so 
the time for shooting is short. During the last 
of the ebb and the first of the flow, the birds feed 
on the fiats. 

Sometime in April comes a pleasant day, warm 
and sunny, with a southwest wind. The several 
thousand brant in Chatham Bay feed greedily 
until the rising tide removes their food from reach. 
Now they assemble in deep water in the centre of 
the bay, study the weather, and discuss the advis- 
ability of journeying toward their summer home. 
Soon fifteen or twenty birds take wing, fly back 
and forth over the others, honking loudly, and 
circling ever higher until they have reached a 
considerable altitude ; then the long line swings 
straight, headed northeast. Out over the beach, 
over the ocean it goes, and the birds in it will not 
be seen again. Then another flock follows, tak- 
ing exactly the same course ; flock after flock 
succeeds, and the movement is kept up until dark. 
You may sit in the blind next day or sail across 
the bay, you will see no brant save a few strag- 
glers : branting is through for the year. 

The Hne of flight from Cape Cod is to the 
islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Prince 



248 The PVater-fowl Family 

Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, 
the birds always keeping close to the coast. They 
arrive here during the last of April, and in May. 
On the Magdalen Islands at this time the lagoons 
are sometimes covered with brant. The natives 
shoot them from the bars when a heavy wind 
drives the flocks well in toward land, or by put- 
ting brush or seaweed in a small boat, drift or 
quietly paddle within range. Like all our water- 
fowl, brant are easily killed at night, swimming 
together in a close mass at the approach of a 
light. Under these circumstances the havoc 
caused is great ; often ten or more birds are killed 
by a single shot. 

They never breed in captivity, but become gen- 
tle and tame and are readily cared for. The flesh 
of the young bird is excellent; the old bird is 
rather tough for the table. The weight of the 
brant is from three to six pounds. 

BLACK BRANT 

(^Branta nigricans) 

Adult male and female — Head, neck, and upper parts of breast 
black. The middle of the neck has a pure white collar inter- 
rupted behind, with oblique white streaks running upward for an 
inch outside of the ring. Upper parts, breast, and abdomen, 
dark plumbeous. Sides of the rump, anal region, upper and 
under tail-coverts, snow-white. Tail black. Bill and feet, 
black. Iris, brown. 

Measuremetits — Length, 25 inches; wing, 13 inches; culmen, 1.35 
inches; tarsus, 2.50 inches. 



Gooses booting 249 

Young — Similar to the adult, but the collar is obscure. The greater 
wing-coverts and secondaries, broadly tipped with white. The 
feathers of the sides, uniform gray, without white tips. 

The black brant diifers from the common brant in having a 
white collar about the front of the neck, in the latter bird the 
sides of the neck being merely streaked with white. The black 
brant is characterized also by darker breast and belly. 

Eggs — Four to seven in number, grayish white, measure 2.80 by 
1.80 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds at Liverpool Bay on the Arctic Coast and at Point 
Barrow, Alaska, occurring abundantly in spring and rarely in 
fall on Kotzebue Sound and the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. 
Winters on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia south to 
Magdalena Bay, Lower California, in Nevada, and probably 
Utah. Recorded also as a straggler from Texas, Minnesota, 
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Reported 
also from near Wrangell Land, Bering Island, and Hawaii, and 
a " dark -bellied " brant breeds in the Yenisei Delta. Occurs 
inland in migrations to Fort Yukon, Okanogan County, Wash- 
ington, and eastern Oregon. 

The black brant is rare on the Yukon, but 
passes the western edge of St. Michael's Island 
in immense flocks, about the middle of May, re- 
turning the last week in September. 

Its breeding-ground is on the shores of the 
Arctic Ocean. Some of the nests are placed on 
small islands in the neighboring fresh-water ponds, 
or about the mouth of the rivers. The nest is a 
depression in the ground lined with down, contain- 
ing four or five, sometimes six, eggs. These birds 
keep well to the sea, and except in the locali- 
ties where they nest, are seldom seen on fresh 
water. 



250 The IVater-fowl Family 

The salt-water bays along the coast, in the vi- 
cinity of San Diego and farther south, off southern 
and Lower California, are the winter homes of the 
black brant. North of San Diego the bird is 
less common, and probably the flight over a 
large part of the distance from Alaska south is 
over water. 

The bird is killed from the sandy points and 
islands, in the lagoons and bays. The flight is on 
the ebb tide and for a short time, but the flocks 
come fast. Flying in undulating lines, close to 
the water, now high up, they first appear, a dark 
line in the far distance, steadily growing larger 
and blacker till they hover at the edge of the 
decoys. 

The habits are similar to its eastern relative's. 
It feeds on various grasses and seaweeds, occa- 
sionally Crustacea. When young the flesh is ten- 
der and palatable. The old birds are tough, and 
often have a fishy taste. 

BARNACLE GOOSE 
{Branta leucopsis) 

Adult male and female — Lores, back of head, neck, and breast, 
black ; remainder of head, nearly white ; wings and back, slate, 
the feathers marked with a subterminal black bar, and a terminal 
one of white ; flanks, brownish gray, feathers with white tips ; 
under parts, grayish white ; bill and feet, black ; iris, dark brown. 

Measuretneiits — Length, 25 inches; wing, 15 inches; tarsus, 2.75 
inches; culmen, 1.25 inches. 




CANADA GEESE 



Goose- shooting 251 

Young — Cheeks, spotted with black ; wing-coverts and feathers of 
back, tinged with rufous ; flanks, barred with gray. 

Habitat — Breeds in the northern part of the eastern hemisphere as 
far north as Spitzbergen. Winters in Great Britain and western 
Europe, occurring south to Spain. Occurs in Iceland and so 
regularly In Greenland that it has been thought to breed there, 
and it has been recorded on the North American continent from 
Hudson Bay, Nova Scotia (doubtless escaped from captivity), 
Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina. 

The barnacle goose is only accidental in North 
America, and it is a matter of doubt if most of the 
specimens taken along our shores have not escaped 
from confinement. A barnacle goose, and the first 
one procured, was taken at Rupert House, on the 
southern end of Hudson Bay, by Mr. B. R. Ross, 
undoubtedly a straggler from Greenland. It has 
also been taken in Nova Scotia, Long Island, and 
Currituck Sound, North Carolina. This goose is 
about the size of a brant and is a handsomer bird 
than the other species. It passes much of its time 
on land and is specially noisy when feeding and 
on the wing. Little is known about the breeding 
habits, but the eggs are said to be of a yellowish 
cream color. Birds of this species have been 
known to live thirty-two years in captivity. 

EMPEROR GOOSE 

{Philacte canagicd) 

Adult male and female — Head and neck, white, stained, especially 
in front, with rusty ; throat and neck frontally, brownish black 
or dusky gray; feathers on lower neck, tipped slightly with 



2 52 The Water-fowl Family 

white ; the remainder of the plumage, blue-gray ; each feather 
with a narrow terminal bar of white, and a broader subterminal 
bar of black ; these markings are specially distinct on the upper 
parts, breast, and sides, but nearly wanting on the abdomen ; 
greater coverts and secondaries, dark slate, edged with white ; 
primaries with their coverts, slate ; tail, at the base, slate, re- 
mainder, white ; upper and lower tail-coverts, slate ; bill, pale 
purplish ; the lower mandible, dark horn-color, with a white spot 
on each side ; legs and feet, orange ; iris, hazel. 

Measurements — Length, 26 inches; wing, from 14.50 to 15.50 
inches; tarsus, 2.60 inches; culmen, 1.60 inches. 

Yoimg — Somewhat similar to the adult, with the head and neck 
slate color ; top of the head, speckled with white ; the barring 
of the feathers less distinct than in the adult; bill and feet, 
dusky. 

Eggs — Five to eight in number, white, measure 3.35 by 2.12 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the coast of Alaska from mouth of the Kus- 
kokwin north to Kotzebue Sound. Winters chiefly on the 
Aleutian Islands, very rarely south to British Columbia and the 
Sacramento Valley, California, occurring on the Pribilofs in 
migration. 

This bird is the most beautiful of our geese and 
outside of small localities in Alaska almost un- 
known. It breeds along the northern coast and 
adjacent islands. The nest is in a hollow depres- 
sion on the shore, composed of grass and lined 
with down. The emperor goose remains in the 
North longer than any other species, staying until 
the whole coast is icebound, when it migrates south 
to open water, wintering about the coast and islands 
of southern Alaska. The flight is in pairs or in 
flocks of four or five, high in air and strong. The 
note is shrill and clear and the bird exceedingly 



Gooses booting 253 

shy. In certain localities the eggs and flesh serve 
as an important article of food for the natives. The 
diet is composed of shellfish and Crustacea. The 
flesh is strong, of a characteristic garlicky odor, 
and unsuitable for the table. A few specimens of 
this bird have been taken in California. Other 
names for the emperor goose are white-headed 
goose, Nudjarlik. 

BLACK-BELLIED TREE-DUCK 

{Dendrocygna autumnalis) 

Adult male and female — S>\mi\2iX in plumage; forehead, pale yel- 
lowish brown, top of head, cinnamon ; nape and line down back 
of neck, black ; sides of head and upper part of neck, gray ; chin 
and throat, grayish white ; rest of neck, upper portion of breast, 
and back, cinnamon-brown ; middle of back, rump, and upper 
tail-coverts, black ; the wing, when closed, shows a white line for 
nearly its entire length ; lower parts, yellowish brown ; abdomen, 
flanks, and wing-coverts, black ; anal region, white spotted with 
black ; under tail-coverts, white ; bill, orange-red at the base of 
maxilla, with a bluish nail ; legs and feet, flesh color ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — 'Ltngih, 22 inches ;' wing, 9.50 inches; culmen, 
1.90 inches ; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Young— S\ra\\?iV to adult, but duller in color; abdomen and sides, 
grayish white, with dusky bars. 

Downy yotmg — U^^tr parts, blackish brown, with patches of buff 
on side of back and on each side of rump ; a bright buff stripe 
over the cheeks and one from cheeks posteriorly, blackish brown ; 
under parts, pale buff; belly, white. 

£gg-j_ Twelve to sixteen in number, ivory-white, with greenish 
tinge, measure 2 inches by 1.50 inches. 

Had/tat— Ranges through Central America and Mexico, north to the 
lower Rio Grande River, in Texas, breeding throughout its range. 
A few are said to occur on the coast of Louisiana all the year, and 
it has been recorded from Jamaica and Fort Tejon, California, 



254 The Water-fowl Family 

This duck is common in Honduras and Trini- 
dad, breeding in both these locaKties. In Texas 
it occurs near Matamoras and Monterey, and is 
met with near Galveston in winter. A single 
specimen taken at Fort Tejon, southern Cali- 
fornia, is the only instance of its capture in this 
state. The black-bellied tree-duck breeds gener- 
ally throughout its range, choosing a hole in a 
tree or broken stump, often a mile or more from 
water, as the site for its nest This is sometimes 
placed thirty feet or more from the ground, a 
second and third brood in some instances being 
raised. In April, 1901, I found these birds abun- 
dant in the vicinity of Tampico, Mexico. They 
were most often seen in small flocks of from four 
to ten on the banks at the edge of the lagoon. 
Their long legs gave them an odd look. At our 
approach they would run together, raising their 
long necks much like geese. The flight was pe- 
culiar and characteristic, low down and in a line, 
their large wings with white bands presenting a 
striking aspect, and giving the impression of a 
much larger bird. We saw them occasionally on 
the smaller ponds, and shot several, all of them 
males. In one or two instances the appearance 
of the breast indicated the bird had been sitting 
on eggs. While the males of this species are 
supposed to attend to their own affairs during 
the period of incubation, it would seem as if they 



Goose-shooting 255 

occasionally assisted in nesting duties. Once or 
twice I saw them near small ponds in woods 
apparently nesting, flying from tree to tree with 
perfect ease, exhibiting some concern at our pres- 
ence. 

Both varieties of tree-ducks are nocturnal in 
their habits, and fond of visiting the corn-fields, 
where they often inflict much damage by alighting 
on the stalk and breaking it. The note is a shrill 
pe-che-che-ne, and hence the native name. They 
are readily tamed, and become very gentle. We 
noticed a pair in one of the yards at Tampico 
perfectly at home with the barnyard ducks. When 
domesticated, they are said to be as good as a 
watch-dog, uttering their note at slight provoca- 
tion. This bird is known along the lower Rio 
Grande as the long-legged duck and the fiddler 
duck; in Mexico as the pe-che-che-ne and the 
pato maizal, or corn-field duck. 

FULVOUS TREE-DUCK 

{Dendrocygna fulva) 

Adult male and female — Similar in plumage; top of head, rufous, 
darkest on nape ; sides of head, yellowish brown ; a ring of black 
feathers with white centres on middle of neck ; lower neck, dark 
yellowish brown ; back, black tipped with cinnamon, giving it a 
barred appearance ; wing-coverts, chestnut ; wing, black ; tail, 
black; upper and under tail-coverts, white ; throat, light buff; 
upper parts of breast, yellowish brown ; under parts, cinnamon ; 
bill, bluish black ; legs and feet, slate ; iris, brown. 



256 The IVater-fowl Family 

Measurements — Length, 20 inches; wing, 8.25 inches; culmen, 
1.75 inches; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Young — Similar to adult, but with little or no chestnut color on 
wing-coverts ; under parts, paler ; the upper tail-coverts tipped 
with brown. 

Downy young — Upper parts, grayish brown ; a brown band from the 
eyes to the back of neck ; another extending down the neck, 
posteriorly ; a white band across the back to the head, and one 
across the wing; under parts, white. 

Eggs — Ten to fifteen in number, pure white, measure 2.20 inches 
by 1.50. 

Habitat — In the United States, breeds in Louisiana, Texas, and the 
Sacramento Valley, California ; occurs in Nevada, southern and 
Lower California in migrations, and winters in Louisiana and 
Texas. Is found also in Mexico and in southern Brazil, Uruguay, 
and Argentina, in South America, and is said to occur in South 
Africa and India. Recorded also from North Carolina and 
Missouri. 

Mr. Hepburn found the fulvous tree-duck breed- 
ing on the marshes at the junction of the Sac- 
ramento and San Joaquin rivers. A specimen 
killed near San Francisco is in the Museum of 
the Boston Natural History Society. There is a 
single instance of its capture near New Orleans, 
January 22, 1870, In South America it has been 
noticed in the easterly region of La Plata and on 
the Rio Uruguay. In October, at the end of the 
rainy season, it is abundant near Mazatlan. 

The fulvous tree-duck inhabits a region near the 
seacoast, but is found exclusively on fresh water, 
through the winter ranging well into the tropics. 
It frequents shallow, grassy ponds, feeding on 
seeds and various weeds, often going at night to 



Gooses booting 257 

the corn-fields. The bird is comparatively easy 
of approach, and sometimes many are killed at a 
shot. In April they migrate north a short dis- 
tance, and breed along the rivers in western 
Sonora, passing in limited numbers into the 
United States. The nest is a hole in a tree, and 
the eggs twelve to fifteen in number, the duck 
sometimes raising two or three broods. The note 
of this bird is a peculiar whistle, often heard at 
night, which is its favorite time for feeding. The 
flesh is white, juicy, and excellent for the table. 
Alighting on a tree, the long legs give them an 
ungainly look. When fledged, the birds congre- 
gate in considerable size on neighboring ponds, 
often gathering along the shore. The species is 
known by various names, such as long-legged 
duck, yellow-bellied fiddler duck, and rufous duck. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE SWANS 
{CygnincB) 

This group contains the largest of the water- 
fowl. There are about eight species scattered 
over the world, but the majority belong in the 
northern hemisphere. Swans, while possessing 
a bill much like that of a duck, but rather longer 
proportionately, differ from all other birds of the 
family in having in adult life a space between the 
eyes and bill bare of feathers. The neck is exceed- 
ingly long, longer than the body, and contains more 
vertebrae than that of the geese and ducks, and is 
therefore extremely flexible. The legs are rather 
short and set far back, so that the grace that is 
characteristic of the swan in water disappears 
when it tries to walk. The hind toe has no mem- 
branous lobe or a very small one. The sexes are 
alike in color, and the plumage of the adults in all 
the species frequenting the northern hemisphere 
is pure white. They prefer the temperate regions 
of the globe ; but the majority of individuals, still 
existing wild in the northern hemisphere, now 
breed far north. They are seldom found in large 

258 



Swan-shooting 259 

flocks and prefer the shallow waters of the lakes 
and rivers, but occur also in the bays of the coast. 
Although very rapid swimmers they do not dive, 
feeding chiefly on water plants, which they tear 
up from the bottom, reaching down their long 
necks, sometimes tilting the body like a goose; 
occasionally they eat shellfish. The flesh of the 
adults is said to be tough and not palatable, that 
of the young being far better. They migrate in 
V-shaped flocks, frequently uttering loud trum- 
peting. Their flight is strong, but an instance is 
on record that a flock of whistling swans {Olor 
columbianus) while migrating through western 
Pennsylvania were overtaken by a storm of sleet, 
and their feathers so loaded with ice that they 
were forced to the ground and a number caught 
alive. 

In breeding habits they resemble the geese. 
Retiring to an island in some secluded lake or 
the fastnesses of a marsh, they build a large nest 
of sticks, leaves, and grass. The male guards the 
female while she is sitting, attacking with great 
courage whatever approaches the nest. Their 
voice is clear and powerful, but the sweetness of 
" the dying swan's refrain " must be considered 
poetical license. 

Swans are frequently kept in captivity and 
breed readily if they have surroundings to their 
likinsr. The mute swan is the one most often 



26o The Water- fowl Family 

seen in parks and zoological gardens, and is not 
a native of North America. It is an exceedingly 
beautiful bird as it floats on the water, carrying its 
long neck in a graceful curve. The age to which 
swans live is very great. The mute swan has 
been known to reach seventy years, and one died 
near Amsterdam, in 1675, which bore a metal 
collar with the date "1573," indicating a life of 
one hundred and two years. 

While all swans of the northern hemisphere 
are white, so that " white as a swan " became 
proverbial, in Australia — the land of all things 
strange — was found a black swan. This is a 
very beautiful species, entirely black, with a red 
bill crossed by a white bar. The neck is long, 
slender, and very graceful, and the inner feathers 
of the wings are curled and raised. It has 
been successfully domesticated in the northern 
hemisphere. 

Another peculiar swan is found in southern 
South America, sometimes occurring in large 
flocks. This bird is pure white except for the 
head and neck, which are deep seal-brown. The 
bill is plumbeous with a rose-colored knob at 
the base. " Boleadores," — three balls on the 
ends of connecting ropes, — such as are used to 
catch horses and cattle, were formerly employed 
by the inhabitants to catch these swans, although 
for this purpose the balls were made of wood. The 



Swan-shooting 261 

hunter would float as close as possible to a flock 
feeding in some lake and throw the balls as the 
birds arose. If he succeeded in striking one, these 
balls, twisting the ropes about the bird, rendered 
it helpless. 

WHISTLING SWAN 
{Olor columbianus) 

Adult male — Entire plumage, white ; the head, sometimes the neck 
and under parts, tinged with rusty; tail, generally of twenty 
feathers ; bill and feet, black ; iris, brown ; a small, yellow spot 
on loral skin at the base of the bill, in front of the eye ; the dis- 
tance from the anterior corner of the eye to the posterior edge 
of the nostril is more than the distance from the posterior edge 
of the nostril to the tip of the bill. This is an infallible distinc- 
tion from the trumpeter swan (Cory) . 

Measnre?nents — Length, 53 inches; wing, 21.50 inches; bill, 4 
inches; tarsus, 4.25 inches; middle toe, 5.75 inches. 

Adult female — Similar. 

Young — Plumage, of a grayish cast, with a brownish tinge on head 
and upper neck ; bill, reddish flesh color, dusky at the tip ; feet, 
pale yellow. The adult plumage is acquired in about five years, 
during which time the plumage gradually shades into white, and 
the bill and feet grow darker until the fourth year, when both 
become black. Weight, sixteen to twenty-four pounds. 

Eggs — Two to six in number ; brownish white ; a rough surface to 
the shell; measures 4.10 by 2.70 inches. 

Haditat — Breeds on Nottingham Island, Hudson Bay, the Arctic 
Coast near Fort Anderson, near Kotzebue Sound (Sp. ?), the 
Yukon Delta, and Cook Inlet (Sp. ?), Alaska, and is said to be 
abundant in summer in the interior of British Columbia. Win- 
ters from Maryland to South Carolina on the Atlantic Coast, 
rarely north to Massachusetts and south to Florida, on the coast 
of Louisiana and Texas, north rarely in the interior to western 
Pennsylvania, Ohio (?), Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ne- 
braska (Sp. ?), in Utah and Nevada (Sp. ?), Arizona, and on 
the Pacific Coast from British Columbia, rarely south to Ventura 



262 The IVater-fowl Family 

County, California, and San Raphael, Lower California (Sp. ?). 
Occurs in migration from the Commander and Pribilof islands 
to Newfoundland, and has been taken in Scotland and Bermuda. 

The whistling-swan reaches the breeding- 
grounds in late April or early May, arriving in 
flocks, most of which cross the interior; some 
follow the line of Hudson Bay, others the Pacific 
Coast. Soon after their appearance at the summer 
home, the flocks break up into pairs, each pair 
frequenting the nesting-place,usually a small island. 
Captain Lyon has described the nest as being 
built of moss peat, and as being of considerable 
size, the length at the base being nearly six feet 
by four in width, in the shape of a mound, with 
an outside height of two feet, the cavity being a 
foot and a half in diameter. 

The young are hatched about July i, and be- 
fore they are able to fly many fall a prey to the 
natives. The fall migration begins in early Octo- 
ber. Families congregate in flocks and when a 
favorable wind offers, start on the journey south. 
The flight is mainly overland, in a straight, un- 
erring line, high in the air, and in fair weather 
with but few stops. Those wintering along the 
Atlantic reach the coasts of North and South 
Carolina in early November and remain until well 
on into March. On the Columbia River the birds 
arrive in late October and leave in March or the 
first week of April. The first comers are in 



Swan-shooting 263 

small flocks, composed of a few old birds with 
their cygnets ; these are augmented by others, 
and soon large numbers congregate. Their desti- 
nation is often reached at night ; discordant cries 
announce the arrival and tell the satisfaction of a 
long, tiresome journey ended. Few sights are 
more imposing than the lines of white, and the 
swan drifting majestically along the surface of 
quiet water is deservedly the emblem of beauty 
and grace. From afar the appearance is of a 
snowbank. If disturbed, and not hard-pressed, 
they swim off rather than take to wing. The 
flight is started with considerable effort ; the bird 
rising heavily against the wind quickly mounts to 
an altitude far out of range, when the wings seem 
almost motionless and the white line sails through 
the air in striking distinction to the flapping flight 
of geese. The note resembles slightly the noise 
made by a tin horn, and its discordance is sup- 
posed to increase with age. When birds in the 
air, about to alight, call to those on the water, there 
is often an utter din. 

The swan feeds on the shallow bars and flats, 
keeping the body above water and dipping down 
with its long neck. Various water-grasses, vege- 
table matter, and small shellfish and Crustacea 
comprise the diet. While age and resulting 
toughness render the old bird scarcely edible, the 
cygnet in some localities is highly prized. 



264 The IVater-fowl Family 

In Currituck, Albemarle, and Pamlico sounds, 
the eastern habitat, the swan is not killed in large 
numbers. When an occasional bird is shot, per- 
haps he is an unfortunate tail-ender, who came 
over the blind a little too close. Sometimes in 
heavy weather the usual course and habit of flight 
is changed, and the flocks fly overland within 
range. Rarely a single bird comes to geese de- 
coys. Some of the clubs along the coast have 
one or two wild swan, that are tied out with other 
stool and serve to attract their mates. 

Along the Pacific Coast, in the vicinity of the 
Columbia River, the bird is killed in considerable 
numbers when driven low down and overland by 
storm and wind. In winter weather a boat cov- 
ered with ice, if skilfully managed, can often be 
paddled within close range. The difficulty with 
which a swan rises from the water enables it 
rarely to be sailed on. Heavy loads behind 
heavy shot are necessary to kill, and if possible 
the head or neck should be aimed at. When 
wounded the swan often escapes, for it is a pow- 
erful swimmer, and, if opportunity affords, can 
dive and skulk. If approached without caution, 
it can deal a heavy blow with the wings. This 
bird bears domestication well, and lives to an old 
age. 



Swan-shooting 265 



TRUMPETER SWAN 
(^Olor buccinator) 

Adult fnale — Plumage entirely white, the head, sometimes the neck 
and lower part, tinged with rusty ; tail usually of twenty-four 
feathers ; bill, lores, legs, and feet, black ; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 63 to 68 inches ; wing, 24.25 inches ; tar- 
sus, 4.75 inches ; culmen, 4.50 inches ; weight, twenty to thirty- 
four pounds. 

Adult fetnale — Similar. 

The young — Plumage, grayish; bill, black with the middle portion 
light flesh color and a patch of light purple on each side ; the 
edge of the lower mandible and tongue, yellowish ; feet, yellow- 
ish brown ; webs, dusky. 

This species differs from the preceding in size, it being decid- 
edly the larger bird. No yellow spot on the lores. The dis- 
tance from the anterior angle of the eye to the posterior of the 
nostril is equal to or less than the distance from the posterior 
edge of the nostril to the edge of the bill. (Cory.) 

Eggs — Two to six in number, dirty white, the shell rough, 
measure 4.50 by 2.70 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds at Fort Yukon, Alaska, and from islands of Frank- 
lin Bay and the Barren Grounds, south to Hudson Bay and 
Wyoming, and formerly south to Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Ne- 
braska, and Idaho. Winters from British Columbia (?) and 
Washington, south to Los Angeles County, California, in Nevada 
(Sp. ?), Arizona, and on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana, and 
northern Mexico, rarely north to Illinois, Indiana (?), and Ohio. 
Has been recorded very rarely from Michigan, Ontario, New 
York, and Maryland, in migration, most passing west of the 
Mississippi ; and in Norton Sound, Alaska ; is becoming each 
year more rare in the United States. Recorded from England. 

This bird is an early arrival in the United 
States, appearing along the northern border by 
the middle of September. By the end of Octo- 
ber it is seen in some numbers along the 



266 The Water-fowl Family 

upper Mississippi Valley and the lower waters of 
the Ohio. Here it remains until freezing weather, 
wintering occasionally in Texas and along the Gulf, 
and found commonly in New Mexico and northern 
Mexico. The favorite haunts are small, fresh- 
water lakes, where the bird is seen in small flocks 
or in pairs. 

They breed in large numbers on the fresh-water 
ponds and lakes in the vicinity of Hudson Bay. 
The nest is placed on the islands or low ground 
among the reeds and is composed of grass. The 
bird hatches in July and takes its young to the 
neighboring water. During the moulting season, 
in August, it is for a short time unable to fly. 

The habits of the trumpeter swan resemble 
those of its relative, but its note is different, being 
much more sonorous. It is a strong, high flyer 
and difficult to kill, the wounded birds swimming 
with rapidity and often eluding capture. The 
food consists of water-grasses and vegetable mat- 
ter, sometimes small shellfish, the bird feeding in 
shallow water, with the body above the surface. 
The flesh of the young bird is excellent. 

This swan is the largest representative of our 
water-fowl, and undoubtedly attains great age. 
There are instances on record where it has lived 
many years in confinement. If taken young, it 
becomes remarkably tame, and has been domesti- 
cated successfully in various places throughout 
this country. 



Swan-shooting 267 

WHOOPING SWAN 
{Olor cygnus) 

Adult jnale and female — Entire plumage, white ; base of bill sur- 
rounding the nostrils and lores, yellow, the remainder, black ; 
legs and feet, black. 

Measurements — Length, 57 inches; wing, 24 inches; tarsus, 4 
inches ; culmen, 4.30 inches. 

Young — General color, dark gray; base of bill and lores, greenish 
yellow; remainder, black, with an orange band across the 
nostrils. 

Eggs — Four to seven in number, yellowish white in color, measure 
4 inches by 2.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in the northern parts of Europe and Asia, includ- 
ing Iceland, and is said to have formerly bred in Greenland. 
Winters on Bering Island (?), the Caspian Sea, and in Great 
Britain and Europe as far south as Egypt. Occurs occasion- 
ally in southern Greenland. 

Formerly this species bred in Greenland, near 
Godthaab, but was exterminated by the Eskimos, 
when moulting and helpless. During the past 
thirty years single individuals have occasionally 
reappeared in southern Greenland, probably mere 
stragglers from Iceland, where the bird breeds. 

On some hillock in a retired marsh of Iceland 
or northern Eurasia the whooping swan heaps 
together rushes to form its nest. Simple as is 
such a home, it must be dear to the birds, for it is 
said that a pair will return to the same nest for 
years. Both parents guard their young bravely, 
attacking all who approach. At other times they 
are wary, and as the V-shaped flocks pass they 
trumpet frequently. 



CHAPTER VII 

RAIL-SHOOTING 

When the wild oats along the tidal rivers of 
our coast begin to turn yellow with the first touch 
of fall, the time for rail has come, and the high 
tides of September give the sportsman his first 
chance. The Connecticut River, where it broad- 
ens into the Sound, is one of the favorite haunts 
of these birds. Here Essex is the usual destina- 
tion. Some three miles up the river from Say- 
brook, the little town of Essex, with its one hotel 
and old-fashioned houses, looks now pretty much 
as it did a hundred years ago. Rail tides gen- 
erally come toward the middle of the day, and 
the pusher is waiting for you at the landing; 
you stand for a minute looking up and down 
the broad expanse of river. Everywhere along 
the shore are wavy patches of high grass reaching 
far out into the water. These are the wild oats, 
and here live the rail. A strong tide is running 
in, and you step into the flat-bottomed skiff, which 
is rigged with a high stool firmly tied to the front 
seat. The only task now is to sit still on this stool 
and be shoved. A short row up the river and 

268 



Rail-shooting 269 

you are in the midst of thick wild oats, so high it 
is difficult in many places to see over the tops, 
even from your exalted position. A flutter just 
ahead, and a rail rises, shot almost before it 
cleared the grass ; a few feathers alone are left to 
tell the fate of the first bird of the season. The 
next is given a chance to get in range, and the 
score is two; three or four more straight exalt a 
man's idea of his shooting ability, — without rea- 
son, though, for no easier mark ever flew in front of 
a gun. Now a rail runs among some broken grass 
ahead of the boat, and a whack from the pusher's 
pole starts him ; at the shot half a dozen teal jump 
within range, and the last one is feathered but not 
stopped. Presently several rail start in quick suc- 
cession ; you fire, and load, and fire again, — not 
a miss yet, but all idea of definite direction is lost 
and the last bird is the only one marked. Here 
a clever pusher shows his skill, and after you have 
given up all thought of retrieving he picks them 
up in order. Under these circumstances painted 
blocks can be used and tossed out to mark the 
dead birds before the position of the boat is 
changed. The time of high tide is short, but 
sufficient ; every few seconds a bird rises, its slow 
flight affording a sure mark ; generally in front 
or to the side, occasionally behind, when you are 
startled by the pusher's yell " Hi, rail ! " in time to 
try a long shot. Sometimes a larger bird, of the 



270 The JVater-fowl Family 

same general appearance and similar flight, starts 
up. This is a clapper rail, known by many of 
our gunners as marsh hen. About Essex they are 
rare. Sometimes, too, a mud hen flops out over 
the tops. In some instances mud hens are quite 
common on the rail grounds. The Florida galli- 
nule is also a straggler here. Rail keep fluttering 
from the grass, less often now, though, than an 
hour ago, but you have some time since reached 
the limit, — as well, for a falling tide makes the 
pushing hard and the birds refuse to rise. Most 
of the birds are soras ; occasionally the longer bill 
and darker coloring mark a Virginian rail. An 
occasional chattering note tells of the presence of 
a rail, secure in the high grass, until the next high 
tide. A lone bittern wings his way to some safer 
spot, and this is our last glimpse of the marsh. 

THE RAIL FAMILY 

This family contains about one hundred and 
eighty species of small or medium-sized birds. 
They are scattered over most of the world, but 
are more common in the tropics ; and three sub- 
families, — the rails (Ralliuce), Gallinules (Gallinu- 
linse), and coots (Fulicinae), — containing fifteen or 
sixteen species, are found in North America. All 
have long and strong legs, with very powerful 
thighs ; the toes are usually very long and not 



Rail-shooting 271 

webbed, and the bodies narrow. This combina- 
tion of characters enables them to run rapidly and 
with ease over the soft mud of the marshes they 
frequent, or on the broad leaves of water-plants, 
and also to pass without difficulty among the 
thickly growing reeds and grasses. Their wings 
are short, rounded, and somewhat hollow, so that 
their flight is usually feeble and but for a short 
distance, with the long legs hanging. Few of them 
fly willingly, preferring to trust to their powerful 
legs and their great skill in hiding among the 
thick growth around them, than to their feeble 
wings. Some of them carry this disinclination so 
far as to allow themselves to be caught by a dog 
rather than leave the ground. The flight of the 
clapper rail is so feeble that I have frequently 
seen a Chesapeake Bay dog, having finally suc- 
ceeded in driving one from cover, follow it as it 
flew and catch it soon after it struck the ground, 
although it might have flown over one hundred 
yards. Yet some species migrate long distances, 
accomplishing these journeys at night. 

There are seldom striking contrasts in the 
colors of the plumage of the rails, and the feathers 
themselves are rather loose, and the tail short and 
soft. The males and females are usually alike. 
Their food, gathered amongst the rushes, on the 
mud or in the water, may be either seeds, grasses, 
and the buds and stems of water-plants, or small 



272 The IVater-fowl Family 

fish, crustaceans, and shellfish. The flesh of cer- 
tain species is considered a delicacy. The size 
and shape of the bill differ much in the different 
subfamilies, but it is never soft at the tip. The 
hind toe is much longer than in the ducks and 
shore-birds. All the species are retiring in their 
habits, keeping in dense vegetation, and though 
their harsh notes may show that there are many 
around, seeing a single bird will prove often im- 
possible. Evenings and moonlight nights are 
their favorite feeding hours, and then their loud 
voices can be often heard in the marshes they 
frequent, and occasionally a bird seen running on 
the mud at the edge of a creek. Their nests are 
simple, a hollowed heap of short rushes, and are 
built on the ground or fastened among the reeds 
growing in shallow water. The eggs are usually 
buffy, spotted with brownish, and from six to 
fifteen in number. The young leave the nest as 
soon as hatched. 

The coots may be recognized by a bare and 
horny shield-like space, extending from the bill 
toward the crown, and by the membranous lobes 
on their toes ; the gallinules, by a somewhat simi- 
lar frontal plate with no lobes on the toes ; and 
the true rails, by having neither frontal plate nor 
lobed toes. Some of the gallinules are of a rich 
purple color with brightly colored bills. 

On islands in the southern hemisphere sev- 



Rail-shooting 273 

eral species of this family have been discovered 
that have lost the power of flight. These birds 
inhabited, as a rule, small and isolated islands, on 
which they had few natural enemies and therefore 
little need for wings; but civilized man interfered 
with the prevailing order when he intruded on 
their domains, and now some of these birds have 
been entirely exterminated and others are on. the 
verge. They were seldom shy or wary birds and 
sometimes possessed an inordinate curiosity. A 
description of the manner in which a species that 
lived in Mauritius in 1675 was caught, is quoted 
by Dr. Stejneger in the " Standard Natural His- 
tory " : "A rod is taken in the right hand and the 
left is wrapped in a piece of red stuff, which is 
then shown to the birds, commonly assembled in 
numerous flocks. Whether the red color terrifies 
these stupid birds, or whether it attracts them, 
they approach the fowler almost without fear ; and 
he, when they are at a convenient distance, strikes 
and seizes one. The cries which the captive ut- 
ters attract its companions, who seek to deliver it, 
and thus all become the prey of the fowler." Let 
us be thankful that the presence of enemies has 
kept our rails from a similar mental and physical 
condition. 



274 The PVater-fowl Family 



KING RAIL 
{Rallus elegans) 

Adult male and female — Upper parts, olive-drab distinctly striped 
with black ; top of head, dark brown with a supra-loral streak 
of brownish white ; lores, brownish gray ; throat, white ; re- 
mainder of head and neck, including jugulum and breast, light 
cinnamon ; sides, dark brown barred with white ; lower abdo- 
men, light buflf, sometimes white ; wing-coverts, rusty brown, 
more or less barred with reddish white ; lower mandible and 
edges of the upper, yellowish ; ridge of upper and tips of both, 
brown ; iris, red ; feet, olive-brown. 

Downy young— Uniform black ; bill, dusky ; the tip and band near 
face, yellowish ; feet, brownish. 

Meastirements — Length, 17 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; culmen, 
2.25 inches ; tarsus, 2.30 inches ; middle toe, 2 inches. Individ- 
ual measurements vary considerably. 

Eggs — Nine to twelve in number, creamy white in color, marked 
with small spots and blotches of purplish slate, measure 1.70 
by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — Fresh-water marshes of the eastern United States, west 
to Texas and Kansas ; breeding from its southern limit north 
regularly to New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Ontario, 
Michigan, Nebraska, and probably Minnesota, and occurring 
irregularly to Maine, New Brunswick, South Dakota, and possi- 
bly Manitoba and Utah. Winters chiefly in the southern half of 
its range, north occasionally to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
and southern IlHnois. Accidental in Cuba. 

Fresh-water marshes of the Southern and Mid- 
dle states are the common resorts of the king rail, 
and thence it straggles to the northern border of 
the United States and has been taken in Canada. 
In South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, 
this bird is a resident throughout the year, but its 
secretive habits, and the protective nature of the 



Rail-shooting 275 

haunts, make it difficult to secure. The king rail 
breeds in the marshes it frequents, building a nest 
of withered reeds and grasses to a height of six 
inches or more from the ground. Eight to ten 
eggs are laid, and in the South incubation is begun 
early in April. The birds are said to use the 
same nests year after year. The young when first 
hatched are covered with black down, and closely 
resemble little rats. Where there are extensive 
marshes near sluggish streams, occasionally a 
glimpse is caught of this bird, but the slightest 
motion causes it to dart out of sight. The food 
consists of various seeds, small water animals, 
tadpoles, crayfish, etc., and the flesh is not the 
equal of the smaller rail. Some confusion has 
always existed between this species and the clap- 
per rail, not only among sportsmen but also orni- 
thologists. The king rail is seldom taken on salt- 
water marshes, and the birds called king rails by 
gunners in these localities are in the great majority 
of instances the clapper rail. 

belding's rail 

(^Ralhis beldingi) 

Similar to R. elegans, but darker and richer in its plumage; the 
white bars on the flanks are much narrower, and the sides are 
marked with distinct black bars ; basal two-thirds of the man- 
dible, deep orange; rest of bill, dark brown; feet, dark brown. 

Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 5.75 inches; tail, 2.50 
inches; culmen, 2 inches; tarsus, 1.85 inches. 

Habitat — The coast and islands of southern Lower California. 



276 The PVater-fowl Family 

Since this bird was first described by Mr. Ridge- 
way in 1882, additional specimens agreeing closely 
with the original type have been secured, thus 
establishing the species. It resembles closely, in 
the coloring of its plumage, the Virginia rail, but 
is considerably larger, and it is difficult to tell to 
which variety the Belding's rail is most closely 
related. 

CALIFORNIA CLAPPER RAIL 
{Rallus obsolehts) 

Adult fnale and female — Upper parts, olivaceous, marked with dis- 
tinct dusky stripes ; breast and under parts, cinnamon color ; 
general plumage closely similar to R. elegans. The coloring 
and marking of the flanks resemble R. crepitans. 

Downy young — Similar to R. elegans. 

Measureme?its — Length, 17 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; culmen, 
2.50 inches; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Eggs — Six to twelve in number, light buff, spotted with reddish 
brown and lavender, measure 1.70 by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — The salt marshes of the Pacific coast from San Quentin 
Bay, Lower California, north to San Francisco, and possibly to 
Washington. 

Little is known about any distinctive habits of 
this species. It frequents the salt marshes and 
marshy islands of California, and resembles in 
manners the common clapper rail. 

Mr. Joseph Grinnell, in his " Check-list of Cali- 
fornia Birds," confines this species to the marshes 
of San Francisco Bay, north, possibly, to Hum- 
boldt Bay, and recognizes Rallus levipes as the 
form inhabiting the salt marshes of southern 



Rail-sbooting 277 

California from Santa Barbara to Newport Bay. 
Rallus levipes is described by Mr. Outram Bangs 
(Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, I, 43, 1899) as 
smaller than either R. obsoletus or R. beldingi, 
with a more slender bill, and a smaller tarsus and 
foot. It is darker above than R. obsoletus, the 
breast and sides a deep cinnamon-rufous, the 
ground-color of the flanks darker, and the super- 
ciliary stripe white, instead of rusty. From R. 
beldingi it differs in having the back feathers 
more streaked, the breast less of a salmon-color, 
the flanks browner, with the white broader, and 
the superciliary stripe white, instead of rusty. 

CLAPPER RAIL 
{Rallus crepitans) 

Adult male and female — Upper parts, olive, sometimes uniform, 
rarely striped with dusky ; the feathers of back and scapulars 
margined with gray ; top of head, dusky, with a brownish white 
supra-loral stripe ; side of head, gray ; chin and throat, white ; 
rest of neck and breast, pale crnnamon-buff ; flanks, olive-gray, 
barred with white ; wing-coverts, brown ; lower mandible and 
edges of upper, yellowish brown ; upper portion, deep brown ; 
iris, yellow ; feet, grayish. 

Downy young — Similar to R. elegans. 

Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; culmen, 2.25 
inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Eggs — Seven to fifteen, deep cream color with numerous mark- 
ings of dark purplish brown, measure 1.65 by 1.18 inches. 

Habitat — Salt marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the 
United States, breeding from Louisiana north to Connecticut 
and probably Massachusetts. Occurs irregularly in Maine, and 
has been reported from Springfield, Massachusetts, Vermont, 



278 The Heater-fowl Family 

western New York (?), Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. 
Winters from New Jersey regularly, Massachusetts rarely, south 
to the Bahamas. 

Four subspecies of clapper rails are recognized by the 
American Ornithologists' Union. All inhabit salt marshes 
along the coast. 

No. I. Clapper Rail {Rallus crepitans). Described above. 
Inhabits the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Connecti- 
cut, and rarely Maine; resident from New Jersey south, and is 
said to breed also on the coast of Louisiana and western Florida. 

No. 2. Wayne's Clapper Rail (^Rallus crepitans waynei). 
Similar to last, but with the general coloring darker, the con- 
trast between the dark centres and light edgings on the feathers 
of the upper parts, more pronounced — the centres of dorsal 
feathers rich seal-brown and their edges light ashy, the under 
parts with more ashy, and the under tail-coverts with fewer 
markings. Inhabits the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to 
Florida. 

No. 3. Florida Clapper Rail {Rallus crepitans scottii). Simi- 
lar to last but still darker, the upper parts sooty brown or 
black, edged with olive-gray. Under parts dark ashy gray 
mixed more or less with cinnamon. Inhabits the Gulf Coast of 
Florida. 

No. 4. Louisiana Clapper Rail {Ralhts crepitans saturatus). 
Similar to last but browner. Upper parts chiefly rich brown 
edged with olive. Under parts gray with cinnamon breast. 
Inhabits the coast of Louisiana. 

The salt-water marshes of the more southern 
portions of the United States and the Gulf of 
Mexico are the homes of the clapper rail. It is 
rare north of Long Island. The bays and tidal 
rivers of Virginia and North and South Carolina 
are their resorts, and here the loud cackling note, 
morning and evening, in certain seasons, is one 
of the sounds of the marsh. Early in April the 



Rail-shooting 279 

birds are in evidence in their Virginia haunts, and 
a little while later in New Jersey and Delaware. 
When shore-bird shooting on Broadwater Bay, 
Virginia, there were few places on the marshes 
where the clattering cry of the clapper rail did 
not protest against intrusion. The meadow-hens 
(for this is their common name) would often come 
close to the blind, if long grass afforded protec- 
tion, keeping up their din, a single rail making 
as much racket as a guinea-hen. Now it seemed 
close at hand ; if something was thrown into the 
cover, for a second there was silence, then re- 
doubled noise, and yet not a bird could be flushed. 
When high water covered their retreats, I started 
a few from the flooded marshes. They rose then 
with hesitation, the flight being straight away 
and slow, the birds dropping down at the first op- 
portunity. In places, where from their noise on 
previous occasions I would have sworn to a hun- 
dred, only a few were in evidence. I noticed 
them not infrequently swimming through the thin 
grass, with hardly more than head and neck show- 
ing, much like the manner of a grebe. Some- 
times they would dive and swim a short distance 
under water. Exposed under these circumstances 
the note was never uttered. Their nesting-places 
in the marshes were often covered by the tide. It 
was a matter of great interest to me to ascertain 
whether the eggs were destroyed, and I am con- 



28o The PVater-fowl Family 

vinced the ordinary high water, unless associated 
with the heaviest storm, does no injury, although 
in some instances devoted birds have been found 
drowned in their nests. The eggs, unfortunately, 
in locations where they abound, are greedily 
sought for by the natives and held in highest 
esteem, but now like all good things have become 
scarce. Wilson states the nests were so abun- 
dant he has known twelve hundred eggs to be 
gathered by one man in a day, — an instance of 
past destruction that now seems incredible. The 
nest is simple but carefully constructed, being 
woven over with twisted, plaited grass, likely a 
provision against high water ; a little path gener- 
ally leads to it, and this the egg-hunter looks for. 
The eggs are eight to ten in number, and often a 
second set is hatched. In the late summer clap- 
per rail are hunted from the marshes of the 
South from skiffs, poled through the flooded grass, 
and often large numbers are killed. Their flesh 
is not as excellent as that of the sora rail, as 
their diet consists more of various small shellfish 
and animal matter, than of seeds and vegetable 
material. 

Where the grass is not too thick a quick dog 
will often catch them. In one instance I knew a 
dog to flush one repeatedly, finally driving the 
bewildered bird to the open, where it flew on to 
the beach so hard as to turn completely over. 



Rail-shooting 281 

CARIBBEAN CLAPPER RAIL 
(^Rallus longirostris caribaus) 

Adult male and female — Similar to R. crepitans in coloring, but 

bill very long, slender, and much decurved. 
Measurements — Wing, 5.75 inches; bill, 2,40 inches; tarsus, 1.85 

inches. 
Eggs — Five to fifteen in number, white to brownish buflF, spotted 

with rusty brown and purplish gray. 
Habitat — West Indies and the Gulf Coast of Mexico, north to Texas. 

This bird resembles the clapper rail in habits, 
and is only found in the United States on the 
coast of Texas, where it occurs north to Corpus 
Christi and Galveston. 

They are said to be very abundant in the 
swamps on the coast of Jamaica, keeping 
carefully out of sight, their presence usually 
disclosed only by the harsh crek which they 
frequently utter. Late in the evening and at 
dawn they are very noisy, and then come to the 
small openings in the marshes to feed. They 
breed on the ground among the roots of the man- 
groves, forming a large nest of roots and leaves, 
hundreds often nesting in a single swamp. The 
eggs are from five to eleven in number. From 
its habits this bird is known as the mangrove-hen. 

VIRGINIA RAIL 

{Rallus virginiamis) 

Adult male and female — Similar to R. elegans but more deeply 
colored. Above, olive, deeply striped with black ; wing-coverts, 
rufous ; remainder of upper parts, dusky ; top of head and back 



2«2 



The PVater-fowl Family 



of neck, dusky, slightly streaked with olive ; a brownish white 
supraloral stripe ; side of head, plumbeous ; fore neck, breast, 
sides, and abdomen, cinnamon ; flanks dusky, barred with white ; 
bill, orange-red, marked with brown in front of the nostril and 
on base of mandible. 

Young — Head above and laterally, back anteriorly, rump, breast, 
and sides, dull black ; wing-coverts and wings, similar to adult ; 
throat white, finely spotted with black ; lower breast and abdo- 
men with a few feathers on sides tinged with white ; anal 
region, reddish. 

Downy young — Glossy black ; bill, orange-red, slightly marked with 
blackish. 

Measureme?tts — Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 4 inches; culmen, 
1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.30 inches. 

Eggs — Six to twelve in number, creamy white, marked with small 
blotches and spots of brownish red, measure 1.28 by .95 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, probably Virginia 
and North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colo- 
rado, Utah, California, and possibly Nevada and Lower Cali- 
fornia north to New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, 
Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and recorded from Nova 
Scotia, Newfoundland, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, and York 
Factory, Hudson Bay. Winters from Massachusetts rarely, 
South Carolina regularly, the southern Mississippi states, Colo- 
rado, Utah, Washington, and British Columbia, south to Florida, 
Guatemala, and Lower California. Reported also from Cuba, 
Bermuda, and five hundred miles west of Ireland. 

The Virginia rail is almost a miniature of the 
king rail and resembles this bird in habits. It is 
most abundant on the fresh-water marshes of the 
Western states, especially Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and Illinois, occurring in large numbers in west- 
ern Canada. In the favorite resorts of the sora, 
this species only occurs sparingly. It seems to 
prefer the marshes less affected by tides where it 



Rail-shooting 283 

can depend entirely on its legs to effect escape, 
and a quick dog has difficulty in forcing the bird 
to flight. The Virginia rail flies with feet hang- 
ing down and quickly takes to cover, where it 
darts off, running with tail erect. The food con- 
sists of various water insects and animalculae, and 
the flesh is not as highly prized as that of the 
Carolina. The note is described as a keek-keek, 
and is almost a squeak, this uttered particularly at 
times when the bird is distressed, when the nest is 
approached. It is found in the more northern 
haunts late in April, and at this time the birds 
sometimes straggle into the markets. In May 
they breed on the fresh-water marshes of the 
interior, and to a less extent on the coast, con- 
structing a nest of grass, often placing it at the 
bottom of a tuft, roughly arching the top. The 
eggs are eight to ten in number and large for 
the size of the bird. The young are covered with 
black down with a white spot on the bill, and 
utter a faint peep if disturbed. In New England 
I have found this rail most common early in 
August, and frequently flushed them from the 
short grass of the meadows, while looking for 
yellow legs. Undoubtedly their habits have 
much to do with the apparent scarcity of the 
species. From its disposition to keep to the 
fresh-water marshes, this rail often goes by 
the name of fresh-water marsh-hen. Early frosts 



284 The IVater-fowl Family 

mark the limit of their stay in the north, though 
a few remain until winter. The distribution of 
this variety is extensive, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, and from Florida to southern Canada. 

SPOTTED CRAKE 

{Porzana porzand) 

Adult male and female — Upper parts olive-brown, striped with 

black ; broad line above eye, malar region, chin, and throat, 

uniform gray ; ear-coverts, neck, and chest, light hair brown, 

spotted with white. 
Young — Similar, with the stripe above the eye spotted with white ; 

malar regions, chin and throat, white, spotted with brown ; the 

breast and belly washed with pale buff. 
Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.33 inches; bill, .70 

inch; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 
Eggs — Eight to twelve, dull buff, spotted with brown and purplish 

gray, measure 1.35 by .95 inch. 
Habitat — Northern parts of the Old World ; occasional in Greenland. 

This species, common in various parts of 
Europe, has been taken accidentally in Green- 
land, and hence is included in the American 
Check-list. It inhabits the dense vegetation of 
marshes and the banks of streams and ponds, 
placing its nest, loosely made from water-plants, 
close to the water. Other names for this bird are 
spotted rail, spotted water-hen, spotted gallinule, 
and water rail. 

CAROLINA RAIL 

{Porzana Carolina') 
Adult male and female — Upper parts olive-brown spotted with 
black, some of the feathers edged with white; top of head 
marked with a broad blagk stripe ; head anteriorly with ghin 



Rail-sbooting 285 

and throat, black; sides of head and neck, jugulum, and breast, 
plumbeous ; abdomen, white ; flanks barred with white and slate. 

Young — Similar, but lores brownish ; chin and throat, whitish ; rest 
of neck with jugulum and breast, light brown ; bill, greenish 
yellow, the color deeper in the adult; iris, brown; legs and 
feet, greenish. 

Downy yotmg — Glossy black, with tuft of stiff, orange feathers on 
chin ; bill, whitish, maroon at base of marilla ; feet, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.25 inches ; tarsus, 
1 .30 inches. 

Eggs — Eight to twenty, light drab marked with small round dark 
spots, measure 1.38 by .88 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, probably Virginia, 
Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and California, and possibly 
Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona, north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie River, and northern British Colum- 
bia, and recorded from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Green- 
land. Winters from South Carolina regularly, New York rarely, 
Illinois, Utah (?), and California, south to the West Indies, 
Central America, and northern South America. Occurs also in 
Lower California and Bermuda, and has been recorded from 
England. 

This rail, often called the sora, is the best 
known of all the species in the Eastern and 
Middle states, and is abundant on nearly all 
the marshes of the coast and larger rivers. It 
has a wide distribution, from as far north as 
latitude 62°, where it has been taken at Fort 
Resolution and about the Red River, to Mexico 
and Central America, passing through the West 
Indies. The habits of this bird are peculiar. 
Depending on the protection of the high marsh- 
grass, the rail seldom take to wing unless forced 
by circumstances. Undoubtedly its migrations 



286 The IVater-fowl Family 

from one resting-place to another occur at night. 
Places devoid of birds one day abound with 
them the next. Of their manner of travelling 
we know but little, but they have been seen 
through a telescope on clear, moonlight nights. 
That the flight must be well sustained is shown 
by the fact that the birds regularly frequent 
the islands of the West Indies, and there are 
interesting instances of enormous flights of Caro- 
lina rail suddenly appearing on the marshes of 
Bermuda after southwesterly gales, arriving fat 
and in good condition, evidently well prepared 
for an ocean voyage. Undoubtedly the marshes 
of northern South America are among the win- 
tering-places. In the spring they appear in the 
favorite haunts, along the coast and inland, in 
the same mysterious way, generally late in April 
or early May, breeding abundantly on the marshes 
of the interior in Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and 
the prairie states, as far west as eastern Oregon. 
The sora rail has been supposed to breed between 
the sixty-second and forty-second parallels. I 
found the birds south of Tampico, Mexico, in 
May, 1 90 1, and have no doubt they were breeding. 
They kept in the high grass close to the water, 
and we only flushed them occasionally, when 
walking through ; but there was hardly a suitable 
place on the islands in the large lagoon between 
Tuxpan and Tampico, where I did not see them. 



Rail-shooting 287 

In one instance we camped on the shore of 
a strip of high grass, off one of the islands. 
There was a beach about two feet wide between 
the dry marsh and the water's edge ; here I 
noticed two pair of sora rail ; they would 
come out of the high, dry grass, often together, 
drink, and at the slightest motion dart back, 
returning in a few minutes to go through the 
same performance. When exposed they are ex- 
ceedingly watchful, and running along the beach 
look much like a small rat. The nest could not 
be found, but at both points where the birds 
appeared on the beach there was a little path 
leading into the grass. In its common breeding- 
places the nest is constructed of grass, more or 
less arched over, and under broken weeds and 
grass tops, placed near the edge of a marsh or 
on a solitary tussock in the water, the woven 
appearance of the nest making it sometimes 
noticeable a short distance off. The eggs are 
usually eight to twelve in number and are hatched 
in June. By August the young birds fly, and in 
September are shot along the coasts in their 
various resorts, from Connecticut through the 
South. The tidal marshes of New Jersey, and 
those of the tributary rivers of the Chesapeake, 
Virginia, and North Carolina, where conditions 
favor shooting, are all popular haunts. On the 
Delaware River they are killed in immense num- 



288 The IVater-fowl Family 

bers. The negroes on the James River often 
employ fire-Hghting, and the birds are struck 
with a paddle as they come in view of the light. 
While high water is generally essential for the 
regular methods of hunting, a dog is used some- 
times to flush them, in places where the grass is 
not too thick. Unless killed, the birds are very 
difficult to retrieve, running and hiding, if neces- 
sary diving a short distance under water. The 
characteristic clucking note is often the only evi- 
dence of their presence, and this can frequently 
be heard by throwing something into the grass, 
an indignant response to the disturbance. With 
the first indications of cold weather the Carolina 
rail passes south, and after the first frosts of 
October the more northern marshes see them 
no more. 

YELLOW RAIL 
{Porzana noveboracensis) 

Adult male and female — Upper parts, glossy yellowish buff, the 
feathers broadly tipped with black and intersected by narrow 
bars of white; breast, buff; belly, whitish ; flanks, dusky, with 
narrow bars of white ; axillars, lining of the wing, and exposed 
portion of secondaries, white ; bill, greenish, dull yellow at its 
base ; iris, brown ; feet and claws, pale flesh color. 

Measurements — Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.25 inches; culmen, .50 
inch ; tarsus, i inch. Specimens from the same locality show 
considerable variation in size and markings. 

Eggs — Usually six in number ; buff, with blotches of pale brown, 
both fine and large ; measure i.io by .80 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Maine and Minnesota, possibly Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Kansas, north to Mani- 



Rail-shooting 289 

toba and Hudson Bay. Winters in the Gulf states, rarely north 
to Illinois, and in California. Occurs also in Nevada and Utah, 
Nova Scotia, Bermuda, and Cuba. 

A diminutive member of the family, rarely seen 
on account of its secretive disposition, seldom 
leaving the safe seclusion of the marsh. It has a 
range from Texas to Hudson Bay, and from the 
Altantic Coast as far west as Utah and Nevada. 
The little yellow rail, or yellow-breasted rail, is 
taken occasionally pretty much throughout the 
United States, and seems to frequent fresh-water 
marshes; the bird is not uncommon about San 
Antonio, the lower part of Louisiana and Florida, 
and keeps in the cover of the swamps and bayous. 
It seems to prefer the fresh-water marshes, only 
rising when forced to, sometimes allowing a dog 
to catch it. The flight is rather faster than most 
of the common rail and is said to be more pro- 
tracted. Its sharp note somewhat resembles the 
croaking of a tree-frog, a guttural krek-krek. The 
migrations of the little yellow rail probably are 
similar to those of other members of the family. 
The bird has been taken in New England in 
October and even as late as November. An in- 
teresting account of this species, in a letter from 
Mr. George B. Grinnell to Dr. Merriam, appears 
in Coues' " Manual of New England Bird Life," 
and I quote it here. 

" I was working a young setter on snipe, on a 
u 



290 The PVater-fowl Family 

piece of wet meadow near Milford, Connecticut, 
and several times during the early part of the day 
was annoyed by the pertinacious way in which 
the dog would trail up some bird which neither 
he nor I could start. At length, during one of 
these performances, I saw the puppy grasp at 
something in the bog before him, and immedi- 
ately a small rail rose and fluttered a few yards. 
Noticing its small size, and the fact that it had 
some white on its wings, and seeing from its 
flight that it was a rail, I shot the bird before it 
had gone far, and when it was brought by the 
dog I was delighted to see that it was P. novebo- 
racensis, a species I had never before seen alive. 
During the day several more individuals were 
secured. The next opportunity I had of looking 
for these birds was, I think, October 14. That 
day my brother and I secured eight in an hour 
or two. They were ridiculously tame, and would 
run along before the dog, creeping into the holes 
in the bog and hiding there while we tried in 
vain to start them. I killed one with my dog- 
whip, caught one alive in my hand, and the dog 
brought me another, uninjured, which he had 
caught in his mouth. From what I saw of their 
habits, I am convinced that the only successful 
way of collecting these birds is to look for them 
with a dog. Without one they could never be 
forced from the ground." 



Rail-shooting 291 

The nest is like that of the other rails, carefully 
hidden in the grass near some fresh-water marsh, 
and contains usually six eggs. They resemble 
those of the common sora rail, but are somewhat 
smaller and of a buffy brown dotted and spotted 
with reddish. 

I mention it as a peculiar coincidence that 
while actually engaged in writing these lines 
about the little yellow rail a specimen of the bird 
was brought to me, shot on the Quinnipiac 
marshes near New Haven, October i, 1902, the 
only one I have ever seen in the flesh. 

BLACK RAIL 
{Porzana jamaicensis) 

Adult tnale and female — Upper parts, blackish ; back of neck and 
front of back, dark chestnut, finely speckled and barred with 
white ; head and under parts, dark slate, paler on the throat ; 
belly, flanks, and under wing-coverts, barred with white ; quills 
and tail feathers with white spots ; bill, black ; iris, red ; feet, 
yellowish green. 

Young — Similar, but crown tinged with reddish brown; throat, 
whitish ; lower parts, ashy. 

Measurements — Length, 5.50 inches; wing, 2.75 inches; tarsus, 
.75 inch ; bill, .50 inch. 

Eggs — Six to ten in number, creamy white, finely dotted and spotted 
with brown, measure i by .80 inch. 

Habitat — Breeds in Jamaica, and from North Carolina, at least, 
north to Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and Kansas, and 
probably in Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota, Nebraska, Utah (?), Oregon, and California. Winters 
in Jamaica, in the Gulf states west to Texas and south to 
Guatemala, in California and Arizona ( ?). Recorded also from 
Bermuda and Cuba, and Nova Scotia (?). 



292 The IVater-fowl Family 

An almost precisely similar species is described 
from a single specimen taken on the Farallone 
Islands, California. The Farallone rail {Porzana 
coturniculus) is somewhat smaller, and the back 
is without the white specks noticeable in P. 
jamaicensis. 

This species is the smallest of the North Ameri- 
can rails and has quite an extensive distribution, 
having been taken in Central America, the West 
Indies, and generally throughout the United 
States to the northern border. Its small size 
and exceedingly secretive habits undoubtedly go 
far to explain the apparent rarity. Rather than 
take to wing, this bird will sometimes submit to 
capture, hiding its head and cocking up its tail. 
The flight is feeble and laborious, poorly sus- 
tained, and only for a few yards, when it drops 
back into the grass. The note is said to be a high- 
pitched chi-cro-croo. There are instances of the 
little black rail having been kept alive for a few 
days in captivity, — under these circumstances 
moping about with head drawn in, occasionally 
moving in a deliberate way. Of its migrations 
we know but little. More specimens have been 
taken in the West Indies and southern United 
States than farther north. There are instances of 
its occurrences near Philadelphia, in New Eng- 
land, northern Illinois, and eastern Oregon, and 
in all of these localities there has been conclusive 



Rail-shooting 293 

evidence of its breeding. Mr. J. H. Batty shot 
two of this species in a fresh-water marsh near 
Hazardville, Connecticut ; they were nesting. Mr. 
J. H. Clark records an instance from Saybrook, 
Connecticut, of a bird killed on its nest, by a scythe, 
and all but four of the ten eggs broken. The nest 
resembles that of the meadow lark, and the eggs 
are described as being white, finely dotted with 
bright brown. In May, 1898, I picked up a speci- 
men of this species dead, at Cobb's Island, Virginia. 
It was close to the edge of a dry marsh, just inside 
the ocean beach, and was about half eaten by ants. 
A finely mounted bird was given me by Mr. Harry 
Austin of Halifax, supposedly killed in the vicinity. 

The black rail has been found breeding com- 
monly near Raleigh, North Carolina, by the 
Messrs. Brimley. The nests are situated invari- 
ably in a tussock in a wet meadow, where the 
water stands around the high grass. The eggs 
are laid from the last of May to the first of 
August, and are from six to eight in number. 

There is a very interesting account of the dis- 
tribution and habits of this species by Dr. J. A. 
Allen in the Auk for January, 1900. 

CORN CRAKE 

(^Crex crex) 

Adult male and female — Upper parts, buff or light drab, striped with 
black ; wings, reddish brown, marked indistinctly with white 
transverse spots on the larger coverts ; lining of the wing, cin- 



294 The IVater-fowl Family 

namon edged with white; head, gray with an indistinct loral 
stripe of drab ; throat and belly, white ; jugulum and breast, 
pale drab ; sides banded with brown and white. 

Yo7ing — Similar, but without the gray on the head. 

Downy young — Dark sooty brown; head, blackish; bill, dusky; 
iris, brown ; feet, bluish flesh color. 

Measurements — Length, 10.50 inches; wing, 6 inches; culmen, 0.88 
inch ; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Seven to ten in number; light buff, spotted with pale red- 
dish brown ; measure i .40 by i inches. 

Habitat — Europe and northern Asia; recorded in North America 
from Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and 
Bermuda. 

The corn crake is a bird of Europe, regularly 
breeding in Greenland, from whence it straggles 
to the eastern Atlantic Coast as far south as Long 
Island, and has been taken in Bermuda. A speci- 
men shot near Saybrook, Connecticut, is in the pos- 
session of John H. Clark, Saybrook, Connecticut. 

This species is abundant throughout Europe, 
frequenting wet meadows and cultivated fields. 
It places its nest, of grass, on the ground in a 
meadow or field of grain. From its habits it is 
known also as the land rail. 

PURPLE GALLINULE 

(^Tonornis ?nartinica) 

Adult male and fetnale—UQ^A, neck, and lower parts, slaty purple, 
darkest on the abdomen ; upper parts, olive-green, changing to 
blue toward the purple of the lower parts ; sides and lining of 
the wing, greenish blue ; wings, brighter green than back, and 
shaded with blue ; crissum, white ; frontal shield, blue ; bill, red, 
tipped with yellow ; iris, crimson ; legs and feet, yellowish. 



Rail-shooting 295 

F^«;;^— Above, light fulvous brown, tinged with greenish on the 
wings; beneath, buff; the belly, whitish ; frontal shield smaller 
than in adult. 

Downy young — Entirely black. 

Measurements — -L&ngih, 12.50 inches; wing, 7.25 inches; culmen, 
1.90 inches; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Eggs — Five to ten in number ; pinkish buff with markings of pur- 
plish slate, mostly in the form of small round spots ; measure 
1.70 by 1. 15 inches. 

Habitat — Tropical America from Brazil and northern South America, 
north to the West Indies and Mexico, and breeding in the United 
States in Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia, and from Louisi- 
ana to southern Illinois. Occurs irregularly north to Massachu- 
setts, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri, and possibly breeds ; and 
rarely to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Ontario, Wiscon- 
sin, Nebraska, Kansas, western Texas, and Arizona. Winters 
from Florida and Louisiana, possibly South Carolina, south. 
Recorded in England and Bermuda. 

A bird of the southern United States, breeding 
occasionally as far north as South Carolina ; it is 
found south along the Adantic Coast from this 
point and from Florida to Mexico, occurring in 
the West Indies, Central America, and northern 
portions of South America. The purple gallinule 
has turned up at many distant points and has 
been taken on the Bay of Fundy and several 
times in New England. It is an occasional 
visitor to Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio. 
Many of these remote occurrences have been un- 
doubtedly storm-driven birds. In the localities 
where the purple gallinule abounds, it keeps under 
the cover of grass and weeds, venturing out in the 
early morning or toward evening to the close-by 



296 The IVater-fowl Family 

shore, always on the alert, at the first suspicion of 
danger darting back to cover, only taking flight 
when absolutely forced. The movements of this 
bird on the ground, as it runs over the leaves and 
marshy tangles of the water's surface, are quick 
and graceful, and the brilliancy of its plumage 
remarkable. The note is loud but not specially 
characteristic. The purple gallinule feeds on 
worms, snails, and various vegetable matter, and 
from its fondness for the plantain, goes sometimes 
by the name of plantain coot, and as carpenter 
coot, from the noise the bird makes in breaking 
the shells of small snails against pieces of timber. 
The flesh is not particularly good. Occasionally 
the bird is seen contented in captivity. 

FLORIDA GALLINULE 
( Gallinula galeata) 

Adult male and female — Head, neck, and entire lower parts, dark 
lead color, often nearly black on the head and neck, lighter on 
the abdomen ; crissum, white ; feathers of the flanks broadly 
edged with white ; edge of the wing and edge of outer primary, 
white ; upper parts, brownish, darkest on the rump ; bill and 
frontal shield, scarlet, the tip of bill, yellowish ; iris, brown ; 
legs and feet, greenish yellow ; upper part of the tibiae, scarlet. 

Young — Similar, but with smaller frontal shield ; the entire lower 
parts, whitish, most noticeable on the throat ; white stripes on 
the flanks less marked. 

Downy yoiing — Glossy black; centre of abdomen, sooty; white 
hairs on throat ; bill, yellow, crowned by dark bar. 

Measurejnents — Length, 12.50 inches; wing, 7 inches; culmen, 
1.75 inches; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 



Rail- shooting 297 

Eggs — Five to thirteen in number; pale buff, with scattered mark- 
ings of bright reddish brown; measure 1.80 by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — Tropical and temperate America, from Chili and Argen- 
tina north to the West Indies, and in North America to Massa- 
chusetts, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Minnesota, Nebraska, 
Texas, Arizona, and California, breeding throughout its range. 
Occurs also rarely in Maine (possibly breeds). New Bruns- 
wick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Colorado, and Lower California. 
Winters from South Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Arizona, and 
California south. Resident in Bermuda and the Galapagos 
Islands. 

The Florida gallinule is most common in the 
southern Gulf states, and is abundant in vari- 
ous regions of northern South America, Cen- 
tral America, and Mexico, along the Gulf 
coast, ranging north into various parts of the 
Great Lake region, and occurring sparingly in 
New England and along the northern border of 
the United States. It frequents the smaller 
marshes, keeping pretty much to the grass and 
sedge, avoiding flight if possible ; and, when 
forced to take wing, does so in rather a labori- 
ous way, with feet hanging down, at this time 
often uttering its harsh cry. The bird breeds 
throughout its range in secluded fresh-water 
marshes, constructing the nest of rushes and 
withered plants, covering its eggs when away. 
Both sexes share in incubation, often hatching a 
second brood in the same nest ; the flock of eight 
or ten keeping in places where the edges of ponds 
afford abundant cover in the form of rushes and 



298 The PVater-fowl Family 

sedge. If the haunts are carefully watched, the 
birds will be seen occasionally to emerge and run 
about the exposed shore, watchful all the time, 
darting back into the grass at the slightest provo- 
cation. The food consists of various seeds and 
snails, but the flesh is not particularly good. 
North of South Carolina this species is more 
or less irregular, but breeds commonly in the 
marshes of northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, 
and about Lake Ontario. 

AMERICAN COOT 
(JFulica americand) 

Adult male atid feinale — Head and neck and anterior central por- 
tion of crissum, black; lateral and posterior portions of crissum, 
edge of wing, and tips of secondaries, white ; rest of plumage, 
slate color ; bill, white, becoming bluish at the end ; both 
mandibles, with a dark brown spot near the ends, bordered 
anteriorly with a less distinct bar of chestnut ; frontal shield, 
dark brown ; the culmen, just in front, tinged with yellow ; iris, 
bright hazel ; legs, yellowish green ; the tibiae, tinged behind 
and above with orange ; toes, bluish gray, tinged with green 
on scutallae and basal phalanges. In winter the lower parts are 
paler. 

Measuremetits — Length, 14 inches ; wing, 7.50 inches ; culmen, 1.25 
inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Vouttg — Similar but paler ; throat, white ; rest of lower parts tipped 
with whitish ; head, slate color, speckled with whitish ; iris, 
brown ; bill, dull flesh color, tinged with greenish ; frontal 
shield, rudimentary. 

Downy young — Ground color, blackish ; the downy feathers pro- 
longed in slender bristles, which are pale orange on back and 
breast, reddish orange on neck and chin, and whitish on rest of 
body ; occiput, bare ; rest of crown, black without bristles ; lores 



Rail-shooting 299 

covered with short, orange-red papillas ; bill, orange-red ; max- 
illa, tipped with black ; legs and feet, Isabella color. 

Eggs — Six to fifteen in number, light buff, sprinkled with minute 
specks and dots of dark brown and blackish, measure 1.85 by 
1.25 inches. 

Habitat — ^r&td?. in the West Indies, Mexico, and Lower California, 
and in North America in Florida (?), and from Virginia, Penn- 
sylvania, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, and the Mexican border 
north to New Brunswick, Quebec, Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie 
River, and British Columbia. Occurs also in Nova Scotia, 
Labrador, Greenland, and at Fort Yukon, Alaska. Rare east 
of the Alleghanies, except in fall migration. Winters from Vir- 
ginia, possibly New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Mis- 
souri (?), Utah, Nevada, and British Columbia, south to Panama 
and Trinidad ( ?) . Occurs in Bermuda. 

Widely known as mud-hen ; a common bird 
throughout temperate North America and rang- 
ing through the southern countries to northern 
South America and the West Indies, it breeds 
generally throughout its range. It is common as 
far north as the marshes of the Saskatchewan and 
has even been taken in Greenland and Alaska. 
The coot is not common on the Atlantic Coast 
except in the more southern portions ; but in the 
interior and on the prairie sloughs it swarms, in 
some instances almost covering them; after the 
last duck has left the pond the mud-hens remain, 
and only when obliged, move out of the way. In 
taking wing the birds run along the surface of 
the water for a short distance before leaving it, — 
if there are many of them, with great clatter, — 
finally rising, when their low flight is marked by 



300 The IVater-fowl Family 

a whir of wings. On the water they are excellent 
swimmers and good divers, occasionally obtain- 
ing their food from shallow bottom. This con- 
sists of various grasses and vegetable matter, 
snails and little shellfish, a diet which is not 
conducive to excellency. The flesh of the bird is 
dark and unpalatable. The nest is among reeds 
and grasses close to the water, loosely constructed 
of rushes; it is quite a bulky structure and con- 
tains from ten to fifteen eggs. The coot is often 
seen in company with the different varieties of 
ducks, the ducks in some instances feeding on the 
water grasses and vegetable matter the mud-hens 
bring up. In April this species is the most 
abundant bird on the lagoons and marshy lakes 
along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, occurring in vast 
flocks, covering, in some instances, an acre or 
more. The natives regularly salt the flesh for 
food, preferring to hunt them rather than ducks 
because of the numbers that can be killed at a 
shot. On one occasion I saw twenty-eight picked 
up after a single barrel. On the large sounds 
south of Tampico, we were wakened regularly 
through the night by flocks suddenly leaving the 
water ; the noise made under these circumstances 
was great. The birds were startled by alligators, 
which were numerous everywhere and undoubtedly 
preyed upon the mud-hens. In one instance this 
performance was seen. 



Rail-shooting 301 

EUROPEAN COOT 
{Fulica atra) 

Adult male and female — Similar to the American coot, but some- 
what larger; tip of secondaries, not white; very narrow white 
edge to outer primary; bill, pale red, tipped with white, and 
without dark spots ; frontal shield, bluish white. 

Voting — Similar to adult, but more grayish ; bill and frontal shield, 
greenish; iris, brown. 

Downy yoting — Similar to the American coot, but the long filaments 
on the body whitish. 

Measuremejits — Length, i6 inches; wing, 8.25 inches; culmen with 
frontal shield, 1.85 inches; tarsus, 2.30 inches; middle toe, 3 
inches. 

Eggs — Six to fourteen in number, pale buff, spotted with brownish 
black and purplish gray, measure 2.15 by 1.50 inches. 

Habitat — Northern parts of the eastern hemisphere; accidental in 
Greenland. 

The European coot closely resembles our bird 
in appearance and habits. It is slightly larger, has 
less white on the wings, and no dark spots on the 
bill. It inhabits the marshy ponds of Europe, 
placing its large and loosely formed nest among 
the rushes that it frequents. Professor J. Rein- 
hardt has reported its occurrence in Greenland. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING 

Shore-birds bring to our minds the marshes 
and flats along our shores in summer ; from the 
northern Hmits of the Atlantic to the pampas of 
the Argentine Republic and Patagonia are their 
haunts. Early in the summer, their nesting duties 
over, their young fledged, they gather in flocks on 
the shores of the Arctic Sea and the countries of 
the North. With the waning of the Arctic sum- 
mer they are on their way, and by early August 
this army has reached the coast of Canada and 
the United States. The heart of the sportsman 
is glad. He sees the broad expanse of shallow 
flats, left bare by a falling tide, their feeding- 
ground, and the marsh dotted with little pools, 
their resting-place, the outlying points by which 
they fly, the flight with the rising water. It is all 
irresistible, well may he yearn for the beaches and 
marshes. Formerly myriads of these birds fol- 
lowed our coasts on their journeys north and 
south, stopping a time where extensive feeding- 
grounds enticed them. Cape Cod, Long Island, 
Barnegat, the bays of Virginia and North Caro- 

302 



S bore-bird Shooting 303 

lina, — what could these beaches tell of shore-birds 
and man's wantonness ! It is the same old story, 
oft repeated in these pages. They are gone ; a 
vestige remains and follows the migratory courses 
south, but the hordes of the past will never again 
be seen. Many of the commonest have become 
rare. Flocks of golden plover once blackened 
the air along our shores, now few are seen ; the 
Eskimo curlew has suddenly disappeared ; the 
godwits and the long-billed curlew are hardly 
stragglers on the eastern coast. Sportsmen and 
gunners still hunt the remnant. Shore-bird shoot- 
ing has so changed in the past few years that the 
descriptions of former, even recent, haunts seem 
almost strange. 

In 1886 I spent a summer at Monomoy Island, 
Cape Cod. We stayed at the branting shanties 
in charge of Alonzo Nye. It was early in 
August, the weather had been steadily hot, and 
on our arrival there were but few birds on the 
flats : some turnstone, dowitchers, and several 
small flocks of plover were all ; but with the next 
few days there was a change, and by the loth 
of August blackbreast swarmed. There were 
thousands, and other big birds in proportion. At 
that time, close to the branting shanties was a 
cut-through, an opening from the ocean into the 
bay, and where it broadened on to the flats were 
patches of sedge, the remnants of an old marsh. 



304 The IVater-fowl Family 

On these little patches the grass grew thick and 
high, affording ideal cover. At the height of the 
tide perhaps a foot of water covered them. With 
low water they were bare, surrounded by flats 
that reached out into the bay for miles. An hour 
or so after the ebb tide we took our places in 
these clumps, set out a few decoys in the shallow 
water at their edge and waited for the flight. Al- 
most on the hour it came : first, blackbreast, fly- 
ing well up over the water in flocks of ten to 
fifteen, sweeping over the bay from the high outer 
beaches where they roosted and spent the time at 
high tide. I remember the first one I shot: it 
was one of a flock of a dozen or more, and they 
came right overhead, flying full with the wind. 

But to get back to the blind and decoys. Gen- 
erally we waited a half-hour for the tide to reach 
just the right point; I marked it with a stake, 
and just as that stake showed I considered the 
time had come to keep low. Many a time have I 
looked out on the water from just over the tops 
of that clump of grass and seen a string of birds 
leading up from the east, then crouched back 
again and endured mosquitoes untold until it 
came time to be up and doing. One morning I 
shot twelve blackbreast here at a tide; this 
doesn't sound very big, but the days when I have 
killed more since have been few. There is some- 
thing fascinating about a plover over the decoys. 



Shore-bird Shooting 305 

With dovelike speed they come, when just at the 
edge of the stool the wings droop — the birds 
sail on set wings for a second, then light; in- 
stantly suspicious, they run a few steps and leave 
as quickly as they came. You hear the shrill, 
sweet note, faint and far off; it answers your 
clumsy attempt to whistle, and in a minute the 
graceful birds hover at the mercy of the gun. 
Occasionally the mellow note of a yellowleg 
announces a different visitor. Yellowleg were 
not very abundant at Monomoy, but we usually 
gathered in a few. Their flight lacks the speed 
of a plover, and they sail along calling frequently, 
asking for a place to light ; unfortunately places 
were plenty. Rarely dowitchers were in evidence ; 
they came singly and in small flocks, and the lit- 
tle compact bunch generally accepted the invita- 
tion to tarry; once shot into and a few birds 
downed, the others heard their cries, and came 
again. For two or three days after a heavy 
storm there was quite a flight of redbreast ; one 
afternoon a pair of curlew circled over the decoys 
too close ; these were the first I had seen. I re- 
member a good-sized flock of willet, one of the 
few times I have ever seen them in a flock ; they 
came by a good way off and parted with a single 
bird. This was the run of birds we saw at 
Monomoy that summer. The shooting generally 
lasted for over an hour on the ebb-tide. During 



3o6 The IVater-fowl Family 

the intervals, when larger shore-birds were not 
forthcoming, the attention was attracted by the 
countless terns on tireless wing, everywhere about, 
diving at the decoys, screaming whenever any 
bird met its fate; now and then dark-colored 
jagars chased the terns and robbed them of 
their food, or often a clumsy heron squawked out 
a protest at the desecration of its favorite marsh. 
These sights and sounds of the shore were ever 
present ; now even the gulls are gone. 

That summer at Monomoy was a first experi- 
ence and like all such, the pleasantest of all. 

There are one or two points in Shinnecock 
Bay, Long Island, from which now, with favorable 
winds and weather, good bags of birds can be 
made. For the past two summers a gang of 
market hunters have lived on the best point, 
sleeping in their boats and watching decoys from 
dawn to dark, all summer long. Here, on several 
occasions, some years since, I enjoyed a good day's 
shooting. A Shinnecock Indian, Bunn was his 
name, generally went with us. We spent the 
night before at Southampton and drove over; 
Bunn was on the point, stools set and ready ; it 
was some time before light, and mosquitoes were 
in swarms. We hunted them for a while until the 
clear note of a yellowleg called us to order. At 
Shinnecock nearly every bird leads by this par- 
ticular point, so we counted on one yellowleg 



Shore-bird Shooting 307 

just as soon as it whistled. Bunn replies once or 
twice, with the result the bird is fixed ; it circles 
before the blind and swoops among the stool to 
drop at the first shot. A flock of three, two big 
yellowlegs and a little one, now head for the 
stand, low down close to the water; they don't 
need any encouragement. My companion, with- 
out a conscience, pots two, the third gets off; but 
Bunn seduces him, and this time he stays. Sun- 
rise is at its height, and as we face the glow a 
flock comes out of the east, looking black and big ; 
we flatten down, and soon six plover cut over the 
stool ; my pot-hunter pal waits for them to light 
and line up, with the result he doesn't even get a 
shot. A few more yellowlegs straggle along. 
Bunn calls in a good-sized bunch of kriekers, 
which are nearly all murdered ; a single dowitcher, 
and we count up about eighteen birds — a mon- 
strous big bag for Shinnecock. 

The bays of Virginia and North Carolina, 
spring and fall, are the tarrying-place for thou- 
sands of shore-birds ; here many make a last stop- 
ping before the tedious flight to Labrador and 
beyond, in calm weather probably keeping straight 
out to sea from the time of their leaving. These 
waters are lined with shallow flats, dotted every- 
where with marshes, a shore-bird's paradise. In 
these spots I have spent many a delightful hour, 
out of reach of the w^orld in a Chesapeake Bay 



3o8 The Water-fowl Family 

boat, anchored close to a marsh, where with the 
first break of day we shall be hidden in a seaweed 
blind behind a stand of decoys. We have our 
supper of broiled birds, and eat a big one, then sit 
and smoke a bit and turn in. It isn't a perfectly 
comfortable bunk. Further particulars are not nec- 
essary; but we sleep just the same, and when the 
time comes to wake up, even the thought of cur- 
lew doesn't make us lively — but this is only tem- 
porary. We get breakfast ; Davy puts us ashore 
and carries a big basket of decoys up to the blind ; 
he sets them out and leaves us; the tide is just 
right, and in a few minutes it will be fairly light. 
A whistle off to the left indicates curlew are about, 
and we keep a careful lookout. A flock of six 
suddenly appears in front of us without warning ; 
they catch the establishment unawares and shy 
off, but we see a pair following in their wake and 
call them up. Curlew do not often alight to de- 
coys here, for the blinds are large and conspicu- 
ous and not on the feeding-ground ; but they often 
fly by in range, and so did this particular pair, with 
the result that there were two less curlew on Broad- 
water. A flock of dowitchers now curve around 
the stool and give us a hovering shot ; four or five 
escape, but come back and hover some more with 
disastrous results ; a pair of laughing gulls and 
any number of terns protest against such actions, 
with no avail. Some more curlew; there are any 



Shore-bird Shooting 309 

quantity of birds stirring; flock after flock of 
curlew has passed by just out of reach; now 
we let loose at four ; a little nearer, and one folds 
up. A plover comes next and decoys without a 
second thought, then another small bunch of 
dowitchers; a single bird is left when we finish. 
John cuts down a curlew way off in front. The 
tide is getting down, and birds are less in evi- 
dence; our visitors now are turnstone; we stop 
shooting them after a time ; Davy comes up with 
his basket, and we go back for lunch. He counts 
up ten curlew, and about thirty birds in all. 

Among the most popular resorts for shore-birds 
now are the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
and parts of the adjacent mainland. For a num- 
ber of years I have patronized some of these spots. 
We spent a few days not long ago at Amherst, 
and stayed at Metric's. Metric was a French- 
Canadian who owned a horse and good wagon, so 
we put up at his house ; he drove us over every 
morning, four miles to the beach — a hard drive 
over soft sand. On one particular morning, three 
of us crowded into his cart and Metric's horse 
dragged the outfit for about an hour, then just 
struck and refused to go any farther, so we piled 
out. It had been storming hard for three days, 
blowing and raining, and was doing both then ; in 
fact it was blowing so hard you couldn't face the 
wind without finding your face in a sand-bank. 



3IO The IVater-fowl Family 

The tide was high and it was still dark; we 
couldn't see exactly what to do. There was some 
little discussion; my companions wanted to cross 
over the lagoon and shoot from the farther side ; 
the island we were on seemed good enough for 
me. We wound up by each going his own way; 
I stayed put. It was perhaps a hundred yards to 
the farther end of the bluff, which was surrounded 
on all sides by the tide ; this would afford some 
protection from the wind, and thither I go; a 
narrow spit of sand formed a bar at this end, and 
here stood a single plover, all of which seemed a 
good sign. After finding as dry a place as possi- 
ble for my gun and shells, I look around for some 
seaweed to make a blind with ; as is usually the 
case when you want seaweed very much, or any- 
thing else, it isn't to be had, and it was only after 
considerable labor that I could scrape enough 
together to pretty well cover me up, if I stretched 
out full length. I had about a dozen flat wooden 
decoys, and I set these out in water at the edge 
of the bar. That single plover was the only evi- 
dence of anything alive up to date, and it must 
have been close to six o'clock. Soon a flock of 
Caspian tern squawked at the blind — they evi- 
dently had a liking for the bar. Several Bona- 
parte's gulls circle around it for a while, then put 
up with what they can't help, and light in the 
decoys ; presently a flock of blackbreast, far out 



Shore-bird Shooting 311 

over the lagoon, entices me out of the shelter of the 
bluff; I shudder once or twice, and then lie down 
on my back in the wet sand. The clear, shrill 
note of a blackbreast rings out, and presently 
comes the first shot ; it was a lucky one, for the 
bird didn't light or pretend to, but just swept by 
with the wind. A flock of three ; all hover, I 
kill one. Four, and then a pair, and several single 
birds, all blackbreast, come heading into the stool 
under the lee of the island. Now they are every- 
where, all following the lagoon toward the flats, 
which are beginning to show. I have been shoot- 
ing fast, and considering wind and everything else, 
have done pretty well. A flock of peep with 
something big in it comes along; I bag the big 
part of the bunch and pick up a dowitcher. Several 
single yellowlegs drop in, a few more blackbreast, 
and one curlew. The curlew was a hard shot, 
high up and a good way off, but he collapsed at 
the second barrel. The tide has left me high 
and dry, or rather high and wet, and as the flight 
is over, I pull up stakes. There are over thirty 
birds, mostly blackbreasted plover, piled up by the 
blind. This was the biggest bag of blackbreast 
I ever made. I wonder if my wayward pals have 
been done up and come to the conclusion they 
have; it is a long way across to the other shore, 
but here goes, and I drag myself over the soft, 
wet sand. They had found good shooting, — one 



312 The Water-fowl Family 

bagged twenty-five, the other eighteen, — and both 
were congratulating themselves on having done 
me. 

WADING THE MARSHES 

Though decoys and blinds are required in shoot- 
ing successfully most varieties of our shore-birds, 
by wading the marshes it is possible in some in- 
stances to shoot yellowlegs and grass-snipe, while 
the Wilson's snipe is always killed in this way. 
Generally a sportsman will prefer boots to going 
without, though the lightest of these are heavy 
and hot. Early August is the season the summer 
yellowlegs first frequent our marshes, when the 
grass is beginning to be cut and the salt meadow 
is dotted here and there with haycocks. In the area 
where the grass has been freshly mowed insects 
swarm, and here waders that seek the marsh will 
likely be. The early hours of morning are none 
too soon, and if the gunner has picked a day when 
birds are there, the mellow whistle of a yellowleg 
soon tells their whereabouts. Moving carefully 
in the direction of the note, the birds are soon in 
evidence, probably near some pool in the short grass 
or in the wet meadow. Likely they take wing at 
the first suspicion of approach, and perhaps no 
clumps of hay offer the chance of crawling up. If 
there is nothing to hide behind, the gunner just 
drops; and nowcomes theopportunity for whistling. 
A yellowleg is easy to imitate, and usually readily 



Shore-bird Shooting 313 

replies. The flock rise high and circle about the 
marsh. Continually to their cries comes the an- 
swer from the spot they left. The birds hesitate 
and finally turn, heading back for the little pool. 
Once within range a single bird drops, the mark is 
easy, and before the frightened flock recover they 
leave a second. In the early morning hours rest- 
less, uneasy birds, looking for a place to light and 
companions, often betray their presence long be- 
fore they come in sight. A single yellowleg is 
usually susceptible, and sometimes when shot at 
offers himself a second time. In case a wounded 
bird utters distressed cries, near-by relatives are 
very liable to respond, for like many of our waders 
they love their own. If a large flock is disturbed 
from some feeding-place, the birds after a time 
may return in small numbers, and this offers a 
rare opportunity. 

Next to the yellowleg perhaps the "krieker" 
is most commonly met with on the marshes. 
Krieker is a popular name for the pectoral sand- 
piper; the bird is also called jack-snipe and grass- 
snipe. They are generally found in small flocks 
and often separate over a small patch of grass, 
jumping up singly or in twos and threes. If in 
the right cover, these birds not infrequently allow 
a close approach and rise something after the 
manner of a snipe. Late in the fall we find them 
occasionally in very large flocks. 



314 The Water-fowl Family 

There is something fascinating about the 
marsh seen in this way, and even mosquitoes do 
not detract from the charm of it. With the 
heavy storms of August and September the salt- 
water meadows along the coast are often a shelter 
for birds otherwise seldom seen on them. The 
golden plover drop in now and then, and the 
redbreast. I have seen phalarope in the little 
pools among the grass; hence during the end 
of a storm or immediately after is the time. 
Dowitchers are marsh dwellers, and not infre- 
quently lie close in the grass. They rise with the 
twist of a Wilson's snipe. 

Lastly comes the most important. I speak of 
him last for the reason his habits differ from the 
other shore-birds, and then, too, because a good 
thing is often fitting at the end, — the Wilson's 
snipe. 

This bird is the favorite of them all, and has 
paid the price of popularity. The haunts of 
the Wilson's snipe differ from those of the 
other waders. While he is on many of the 
marshes they frequent, his happy home is the bog 
where the marsh is so soft it shakes as you 
step from tussock to tussock. Here in the 
treacherous mire he may escape — may treach- 
erous mires long last ! On the dry marshes the 
snipe stops, but the time of his lingering is gen- 
erally short. Dog and man pursue him. Little 



S bore-bird Shooting 315 

spring holes marked with green fresh grass are 
the nooks that bear his evidence. Often in these 
patches we come on companies of five or six, or 
perhaps they are well scattered on the dry marsh, 
and, under such circumstances, wild. In all events, 
hunt them down wind and allow no advantages 
to the twisting flight. With a startled " scaipe " 
a snipe rises close in front, and the gunner of 
experience either nails it on the second or lets it 
twist a bit and straighten out, and when the bird 
falls, marks close the spot, for with back upward 
a snipe is hard to see. 

With approaching evening they become active, 
and the " scaipe " of a restless bird looking for a 
spot to " bore " in peace is one of the dusk sounds 
of the marsh. 

THE SHORE-BIRDS 

(^Lz'fm'colce) 

To all the inhabitants of the earth the shore- 
birds are familiar; for from the dreary wastes of 
Grinnell Land, and the solitude of Kerguelen, 
to the steaming jungles of Brazil and the arid 
plains of the Sahara, in the coral islets of ocean 
and far up the snow-capped mountains, hardly a 
spot can be found that some one of these birds 
has not visited. Of the more than two hundred 
and fifty species in the order, about seventy have 
been found in North America. While the breed- 
ing home of many species is in the far North, — 



3i6 The IVater-fowl Family 

where on the boggy tundras that fringe the Arctic 
Coast, about the little pools and sluggish streams, 
where man is rare and insect life abundant, they 
pass the short, hot Arctic summer, — others breed 
throughout the United States, their sprightly forms 
well known from the long reaches of sandy beach 
to the wood -encircled lakes high in the mountains. 
When in the middle of summer the vanguard 
of the returning hosts arrives in Maine, a gun is 
fired whose echoes reach to Florida, the reverbera- 
tion never ceasing, except in hours of darkness, 
until in late spring the survivors seek again their 
northern homes. Gentle, naturally friendly and 
unsuspicious, easy to decoy, flying in compact 
flocks, and most of them compelled by the sources 
of their food-supply to inhabit open country, there 
are no birds classed as game whose destruction is 
so readily obtained. The wonder is that in spite 
of the fusillade that greets them all along our 
coast, so many yet appear in spring and fall. But 
this cannot last much longer. The golden plover 
are gone; the Eskimo curlew gone; the wood- 
cock and Wilson's snipe appear in greatly dimin- 
ished numbers, and even the " peep " are with us 
in but a small percentage of their former multi- 
tudes. Unless something is done, and done 
quickly, to protect better those that remain, 
shore-bird shooting on the Atlantic Coast will be 
forever a thing of the past. 



Shore-bird Shooting 317 

In the West the conditions are not yet so bad, 
as larger game is still fairly abundant ; but as the 
swamps are drained, the plains ploughed for crops 
or fenced for pasture, localities suitable for the 
breeding of these birds are rapidly decreasing, 
and species abundant only a few years ago are 
now hardly common. Some few varieties may 
hold their own, adjusting themselves to circum- 
stances, but to many this is impossible ; and with 
their departure our country will lose to a nature- 
lover some of its most pleasing ornaments. 

Shore-birds are usually small, the largest at- 
taining about the size of a grouse. The habits of 
most of them are expressed in their name, or by 
" mud dwellers," a literal translation of Limicolae ; 
although a few groups, as the coursers and thick- 
knees, inhabit sandy, barren tracts far from water, 
the woodcocks often dry and woody hillsides, and 
the pratincoles catch their food . in the air like a 
swallow. They are wading birds, feeding as a 
rule on insects, crustaceans, shellfish, and even 
small fish, which they catch in the water or pick 
up along the shore. A few species devour 
worms, for which they bore in the mud, and those 
frequenting the uplands live largely on grass- 
hoppers, crickets, and berries of various kinds. 
Fitted for such a life, their legs are usually long, 
their necks long, and, except in one group, their 
hind toe is small and sometimes absent. In some 



3i8 The IVater-fowl Family 

the toes are partially webbed, but very often they 
are separated to the base. While some species 
are sedentary, many perform remarkable migra- 
tions, travelling in a single season from the Arctic 
Coast to Patagonia; as a result their wings are 
usually long and pointed. In plumage many 
shore-birds are very beautiful, the sexes usually 
similar; often the winter plumage is quite differ- 
ent from that assumed in spring, and that of the 
young different from either. Frequently the males 
assist the females in incubation, and in a few the 
male performs all these duties, the female doing 
most of the courting. The males of many have 
a pleasing song in the mating season, often a 
song-flight, while the courting of others is a very 
interesting spectacle. One remarkable bird is 
polygamous, the males assuming in the breeding 
season a large and party-colored ruff on the neck. 
Almost all of the order breed on the ground, 
forming a loose nest of a few leaves and grasses, 
often no nest at all. The great majority lay four 
eggs, usually pyriform in shape, with olive or 
buffy ground color, mottled with darker. The 
young of all are covered with a soft down, and 
are able to run and pick up food as soon as 
hatched. 

The bills of the shore-birds vary greatly, being 
often long and slender, as in the sandpipers, some- 
times pointing upward as in the avocets, or down- 



Shore-bird Shooting 319 

ward as in the curlews; it may be broad and 
flattened at the point as in the spoon-billed 
sandpiper, or with the point bent sideways at an 
angle as in the crook-billed plover — an inhab- 
itant of New Zealand. We find it pigeon-like in 
the plovers, rather short and pointed in the 
turnstones, long and wedge-shaped in the oyster- 
catchers, and with a heavy sheath at base in the 
sheath-bills; but always its shape is that best 
fitted to obtain the food on which the bird 
subsists. 

Seven families are found in North America, 
the phalaropes {PhalaropodidcB), avocets and stilts 
{Recurvirostridcs), snipes and sandpipers {Scolo- 
pacidcB), plovers {Charadriidce\ surf-birds and 
turnstones {Aphrizidcs), oyster-catchers [Hcema- 
topodidce\ and jacanas {JacanidcB). 

THE PHALAROPES 

(^PhalaropodidcB) 

The phalarope family contains only three 
species of small birds, two of which breed in the 
far North and occur throughout most of the north- 
ern hemisphere in migration, while the third is 
confined in the breeding season to the interior 
of North America. They differ from the other 
families of the order by combining a bill, slender 
and as long as the head, a long neck, breast 
feathers compact and duck-like, legs flattened 



320 The Water-fowl Family 

laterally and with transverse scales in front, an- 
terior toes with lateral membrane, and webbed 
hind toes. They are excellent swimmers, obtain- 
ing all their food in the water, and two species 
spending most of the year on the ocean, often far 
from land and sometimes in enormous flocks. 
They are gentle birds, never suspecting danger, 
and float on the water with marvellous grace, as 
they feed on the minute ocean life, or the oil 
sometimes on the surface. All are handsome 
birds, but the females have much more brilliant 
plumage than the males, and are said to do all 
the courting ; when that is finished, leaving the 
males to incubate the eggs and care for the 
young. All the species are found in North 
America and have been separated into three 
genera: Crymophilus, Phalaropus^ and Steganopus. 

RED PHALAROPE 

( Crymophibis fulicarius) 

Adult female in breeding plumage — Top of head, forehead, sides of 
bill, and chin, black ; face and a line about the eye, white ; neck 
and entire under parts, deep cinnamon, with a narrow, dusky line 
on back of neck ; back and scapulars, black, the feathers tipped 
with buff; the primaries, brownish on the outer web, with dusky 
tips, grading into white on the inner web ; secondaries, brown, 
edged with white ; wing-coverts, dark gray, the middle ones with 
white edges ; a white bar across the wing ; rump, plumbeous in 
centre, white on the sides ; upper tail-coverts, cinnamon ; middle 
tail feathers, black, remainder, slate, the two outer ones with 
rufous tips ; bill, yellow, with a black tip ; legs and feet, yellow- 
ish olive ; iris, brown. 



Shore-bird Shooting 321 

Adult male in breeding plumage — Resembles the female, but less 
brilliant ; the feathers on the crown and back of neck, marked 
with yellowish brown ; white on the sides of the head is less 
defined; feathers on the abdomen, tipped with white. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Back of head and about 
the eyes, with a line on the nape and upper part of back, black ; 
rest of head, neck, and under parts, white ; back and scapulars, 
dark gray ; wings and rump, brownish black ; wing-coverts and 
secondaries with white edges ; tail, brownish black with pale 
outer feathers ; bill, dark ; legs and feet, grayish olive. 

Young — Top of head and upper parts, dull black, the feathers with 
brownish edges ; wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 
lead color; middle coverts, edged with buff, tail-coverts with 
brown ; head (except the crown) and lower parts, white ; throat, 
tinged with buff. 

Downy young — Above, bright tawny buff, striped with black; 
crown, bright umber-brown, bordered with black ; chin and 
throat, light fulvous buff, changing to white on abdomen. 

Measurements — Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 5.50 inches ; tail, 2.50 
inches ; tarsus, .90 inch ; culmen, .85 inch. 

Eggs — Three to four in number, greenish drab, marked with blotches 
of sepia-brown, measure 1.15 by .85 inches. 

Habitat — Northern shores of both continents. In North America 
breeds north of 68° on the coast of Greenland, south of 75° in 
Cumberland, in Melville Peninsula, on the shores of the Arctic 
Ocean at Franklin Bay, Point Barrow, Cape Prince of Wales, and 
south to the Yukon Delta, Alaska, and Hudson Bay. Ranges in 
winter south on the oceans from the coast of South Carolina and 
California to Chili, Argentina, and Hawaii, and casually in the 
migrations in the interior of the United States to western New 
York, Ohio, Indiana, IlMnois, Michigan, Idaho, and Wyoming. 
In the eastern hemisphere breeds in Iceland, Spitzbergen, and 
northern Siberia, and has been found in winter as far south as 
the coast of Morocco, India, China, and New Zealand. 

The red phalarope is a companion of the whale, 
and its presence in large numbers at sea is a wel- 
come sight to whalers. As soon as the whale 

Y 



322 The PVater-fowl Family 

blows, the birds congregate in the vicinity, feed- 
ing on the animalculae and minute marine animals 
brought to the surface, often lighting on the 
whale itself. They are found at times far from 
land, and after a storm have been noticed hun- 
dreds of miles out at sea. Off the coast of Green- 
land and the shores and islands of the North 
Atlantic the bird is found as soon as the ice 
breaks up, and is a common summer resident. 
The nest is on the ground, a mere depression 
lined with grass or leaves, and is near the water. 
Incubation is begun early in July; the female 
reverses the custom of all other birds, does her 
own courting, while the more insignificant male 
attends to most of the incubation affairs and 
does as he is bid. When the young are fledged 
the birds soon resort to the open water, although 
at times frequenting the ponds and bays near the 
shpre. The adult female of this species, in the full 
breeding plumage, is a beautiful bird and a fitting 
ornament to nature's wilderness of sea and ice. 
Early in August the adult plumage is changed to 
gray and the birds start on the migration south. 
After leaving their summer resorts they seem to 
prefer the sea, well offshore, braving heavy storms 
of fall, in winter passing south as far as the West 
Indies. 

There are instances of the red phalarope com- 
ing on board ships, and in my collection is a fine 



Shore-bird Shooting 323 

specimen, presented to me by Mr. Downs of 
Halifax, which was brought to him ahve by a 
sailor, wrecked off Sable Island, who secured it 
in this way. The birds are sociable, gathering 
in large flocks, flying low and gracefully just over 
the waves' crest, and have no fear of man, living 
as they do in places he seldom disturbs. 

In August they are found in some numbers off 
the coast of Maine, frequenting the tide-rips near 
Grand Manan, in company with the northern 
phalarope. Off Cape Cod this bird is not infre- 
quently taken in the spring, after heavy weather. 
Enormous flocks are seen occasionally at great 
distances from shore off the coasts of North Caro- 
lina, Massachusetts, and Labrador, the Aleutian 
Islands, and Lower California in the spring and 
fall. The most maritime of the phalaropes, it 
seldom voluntarily approaches land except in the 
breeding season, and even then keeps in the neigh- 
borhood of salt water. This species is the most 
graceful of all birds on the water, floating like 
down, and in powers of flight far surpasses the 
other phalaropes. It is known as bow-head bird, 
whale-bird, sea-goose, coot-footed tringa. 

NORTHERN PHALAROPE 

{Phalaropus lobatiis) 

Adult female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, head, neck pos- 
teriorly, dark lead color, with feathers on back and scapulars 
tipped with rusty ; a white line above and below the eye ; neck 



3^4 The IVater-fowl Family 

in front and laterally with the upper part of breast, bright rufous, 
bordered beneath by a band of plumbeous ; throat and under 
parts, white ; flanks, white, streaked with dusky ; wings, blackish 
brown, with a white bar ; centre of rump, black ; sides, white ; 
tail, blackish brown. 

Adult male in breeding plumage — Similar, but the markings are 
more dull and indistinct ; the head is sooty, slightly marked 
with light brown; the back is more marked with buff; the 
rufous of neck and breast are less clearly defined ; the bird 
averages smaller. 

Adtdt male and female in winter plumage — Forehead, superciliary 
stripe, cheeks, throat, and under parts, white ; a black spot in 
front of the eye ; top of head, gray, with a grayish stripe under 
the eye ; neck laterally, white, tinged with buff; back and wings, 
slate, edged with white ; rump and tail, dark brown, the central 
feathers bordered with light gray. 

Young — Top of head, dusky ; baclc and scapulars, blackish, tinged 
with buff; upper tail-coverts and tail, dark brown, edged with 
chestnut ; forehead, front of the eye, line above the eye, and 
under parts, white ; sides of breast, shaded with brown ; iris, 
brown ; bill, black ; legs and feet, plumbeous. 

Downy young — Above, bright tawny, marked on crown, auriculars, 
and rump with black ; spot of brown on crown ; throat and 
sides of head, pale tawny ; lower parts, white. 

Measureiiients — Length, 7 inches; wing, 4 inches; tail, 2 inches; 
tarsus, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; ground color, greenish drab marked with 
fine, numerous spots of sepia-brown, measure i.io by .80 inches. 

Habitat — Arctic regions of both hemispheres. In North America 
it breeds in southern Greenland and in Cumberland up to 73° 
north latitude, Labrador, the Barren Grounds, Hudson Bay, 
Alaska, the Aleutians, and the islands in Bering Sea. In winter 
keeps away from the shore on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 
and has been taken as far south as Nicaragua and Peru, and in 
Bermuda and Hawaii ; but in the United States, excepting 
southern California, few if any occur from November i to April 
30. Occurs throughout the United States in migration, except 
possibly Georgia and the states bordering on the Gulf of 
Mexico. In the Old World breeds in Iceland, the islands 



Shore-bird Shooting 325 

north and west of Scotland, and on the continent from the 
northern limit of forest north to the Arctic Ocean. Winters on 
the coasts of Europe, rarely in the Mediterranean, in Persia, 
India, China, and the Malay Archipelago. 

Less maritime than the red phalarope, this 
species migrates regularly, usually in small num- 
bers through the interior of the United States, 
but is only found in very large flocks on the 
ocean, where, in May and again in August, great 
numbers have been met with off New England, 
Labrador, the Aleutian Islands, and California. 
In the breeding season this bird frequents bodies 
of fresh water, returning to the coast after the 
young are fledged. 

The boreal regions of both continents are the 
breeding-grounds, but as soon as its young are 
bred it resorts to warmer climes. All summer 
long the northern phalarope is found in the tide- 
rips about Grand Manan ; the flocks are very 
gentle and usually allow a boat to approach close 
to them, taking wing quickly and gracefully, keep- 
ing close to the surface of the waves, and uttering 
their sharp, metallic tweet ; they settle on some 
floating debris or seaweed, perhaps alighting in 
the rough water. The birds feed on little shrimps 
and animalculas, seldom coming on to the shore 
except in stormy weather. Though flocks of phala- 
rope abound in this location through the sum- 
mer, the nest has not been found, and the birds 



326 The M^ater-fowl Family 

evidently do not breed in Maine. In the far 
North they spread out over the smaller bodies of 
water, and are often met with far inland. The 
nests are a mere depression on the ground lined 
with leaves or grasses, in some localities placed 
in tussocks. In Shetland this species lays its 
eggs in small colonies on a few straws in a drier 
portion of the marsh ; the birds themselves, except 
when incubating, frequenting other parts of the 
same swampy tract. 

The birds are a devoted pair, following each 
other about and keeping close to the nest. The 
male is the smaller and more insignificant bird, 
performing most of the incubation duties. On 
the surface of the water the phalarope floats 
lightly, and has much the appearance of a minia- 
ture duck. Late in July the young are fledged, 
and the old birds begin to change the rich plu- 
mage of the spring for one of gray and white. 

They migrate south along the coast, keeping 
to the open water, extending their course well 
into the tropics. 

The northern phalarope wanders irregularly to 
most portions of temperate Europe and Asia. 
In North America it has occurred frequently 
inland, particularly after heavy storms, and is 
taken on our Great Lakes and rivers. 

On the Pacific Coast it is common in Alaska, 
but less so farther south. The bird has been 



Shore-bird Shooting 327 

found in the Bermudas, Guatemala, and the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In Connecticut, Long 
Island, and New Jersey the northern phalarope 
is rare. 

It is known also as sea-goose and whale-bird, 
although the latter name should be applied more 
properly to the red phalarope. 

Wilson's phalarope 

{Steganoptis tricolor) 

Adult female in breeding plu7nage—¥ortht2L.di and top of head, 
pearl-gray ; occiput and nape, white ; a stripe on each side of the 
head, passing down the side of the neck, black, changing on the 
lower part of the neck into rich chestnut, and this is continued 
as a narrow stripe to the scapulars ; short stripe above the lores 
and eyes, and throat, pure white ; jugulum, bufify cinnamon, fad- 
ing into the creamy buff of the breast ; remaining lower parts, 
white ; wings, grayish brown, with paler coverts ; rump, grayish 
brown ; upper tail-coverts, white ; iris, brown ; bill, legs, and feet, 
black. 

Measure7nenis—l.tngih, 9.75 inches ; wing, 5.25 inches ; tarsus, 1.30 
inches; culmen, 1.30 inches. 

Adidt male in breeding phtmage — Of smaller size and much less 
strikingly marked ; top of head, brown, the feathers tipped with 
gray ; a broad mark over the eye, white ; sides of neck, dull 
brown ; back and wings, dusky, the feathers tipped with pale 
brown ; rump and tail, brownish black, margined with white ; 
primaries, blackish brown; neck in front, pale brown; throat 
and under parts, white. 

Meas7irements — \.^ng\k\, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, 
1.25 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Adidt male and female in winter plumage — Upper parts, ash- 
gray ; rest of plumage, white, tinged with gray. 

Young— V^^tx parts, blackish, feathers edged with buff; upper tail- 
coverts, superciliaries, and under parts, white, with a rusty tinge ; 
tail, gray, edged and marked with white. 



328 The PVater-fowl Family 

Downy young — Above, bright tawny, marked on crown, hind neck, 
rump, flanks, and tail with black ; below, pale tawny, becoming 
white on abdomen. 

Eggs — Four in number ; color, drab, spotted with bistre ; measure 
1.37 by .94 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in the interior of North America, from Illinois, 
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, eastern Cali- 
fornia, and probably Mexico, north to Assiniboia, Alberta, and 
Manitoba, and possibly Hudson Bay. Passes south through 
Central America, wintering from Mexico to Brazil, Patagonia, 
Chili, and the Falkland Islands. Has been recorded in migra- 
tions from Quebec, from Maine to New Jersey on the Atlantic 
Coast, and British Columbia to Lower California on the 
Pacific. 

A bird of the Western states, most common on 
the prairie and the alkali lakes of the highlands, 
going as far north as the plains of the Saskatche- 
wan. It is found through the summer in Illinois, 
Wisconsin, and Minnesota, more abundantly in 
Dakota and Montana and in districts close to the 
Rocky Mountains. In Nevada and Utah and 
Salt Lake Valley this bird is very abundant, both 
spring and fall, while many remain to breed. 

In northern Mexico I saw the Wilson's phala- 
rope in late May; nearly every small pool had its 
pair. The female in its breeding dress is a beau- 
tiful bird, and like the other members of this 
group is larger and handsomer than the male. 

This variety undoubtedly breeds through a 
large part of its range. The nest is often placed 
in a tussock of grass near the water, the male in- 
cubating the eggs, both birds showing the utmost 



Shore-bird Shooting 329 

concern if the nest is approached. When hatched 
the young are escorted to the water and they feed 
at its edge, often drifting out on to the surface of 
the pond, the very picture of grace and ease. 

Generally the Wilson's phalarope is seen in 
small flocks of six or more, but occasionally in the 
fall it gathers in large numbers. Through July 
into August few of the prairie sloughs are with- 
out their little flock of these birds. As a rule 
they give no heed to man's presence, if approached 
floating lightly away. In August they begin to 
work their way south through the plains into 
Mexico and northern South America, even reach- 
ing the pampas of Brazil and Patagonia. 

In eastern United States and on the Atlantic 
Coast the bird is exceedingly rare. There are a 
few New England instances: one is recorded of 
a male taken by Mr. George O. Welch at Nahant, 
May, 1874, and specimens were shot by Mr. 
William Brewster at Rye Beach in 1872. 



CHAPTER IX 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

THE AVOCETS AND STILTS 

{RecurvirostridcB) 

One avocet and one stilt are found in North 
America ; both are large birds. The former has 
the bill bent strongly upward toward the tip, mod- 
erately long legs, the anterior toes fully webbed, 
and a hind toe ; the latter has a straight bill, ex- 
ceedingly long and slender legs, very little web- 
bing between the anterior toes, and no hind toe. 
Both agree in having very long and slender bills, 
the legs covered in front with hexagonal plates, 
and the anterior toes somewhat connected by 
membrane. 

The family to which these birds belong is small, 
containing only about a dozen species, which in- 
habit chiefly the temperate zones of the world. 
Our species frequent the alkaline lakes of the 
western interior and are birds of much beauty. 
They often obtain their food in fairly deep water 
in which their long and slender legs enable them 
to wade, but they swim well if necessary, as do 
most of the shore-birds. They breed near the 

330 



Shore-bird Shooting 331 

shores of the lakes they frequent ; but the female, 
as in the remaining families of the order, does at 
least her share of the incubation. 



AMERICAN AVOCET 
{Reciirvirostra americana) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Head, neck, and 
breast, cinnamon, becoming wliite about tlie bill and fading 
below into the white of the under parts ; wings, brownish, black 
on inner scapulars and lesser coverts ; terminal half of greater 
coverts and inner secondaries, white ; tail, gray ; remainder of 
plumage, white ; iris, red ; legs and feet, pale gray ; bill, black. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Similar to the breed- 
ing plumage, but head, neck, and breast are white instead of 
cinnamon. 

Young — Resembles the winter plumage, but the primaries are 
tipped with white ; scapulars and back, mottled with buif ; neck 
posteriorly tinged with rufous. 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches; wing, 9 inches; culmen, 3.50 
inches ; tarsus, 3.75 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; light drab, with blotches of sepia-brown; 
oboval ; measure 1.85 by 1.30 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in the interior of North America from western 
Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California, 
north to Idaho, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, and 
rarely Great Slave Lake. Winters from the coast of Louisiana, 
Texas, and southern California south to Central America and 
the West Indies. Not common east of the Mississippi River, 
but has been taken from Florida to New Brunswick. 

The avocet is a westerner, frequenting the plains 
from as far north as Great Slave Lake, through 
the table-lands into Mexico. In Chihuahua, May, 
1 90 1, we found these birds in large flocks, often 
of several hundred individuals. Dabbling along 



33^ The PVater-fowl Family 

the shores of some mesa lake, they would rise in 
a cloud of black and white and settle on the flats 
at the water's edge, keeping just out of range, if 
unmolested feeding ; some birds waded out the full 
length of their legs, while others more suspicious 
kept guard. Nearly all of them in full spring 
plumage, this congregation presented a splendid 
sight. When a flock was about to join those on 
the ground we heard their sharp, clicklike cries. 
In another instance, on a small spring hole near 
one of the ranches, I saw a single avocet among a 
large number of ducks. The bird was swimming 
out in the centre, in the midst of the others, when 
they rose, keeping in the flock. It had been in 
the vicinity a week. 

In Colorado and Utah and about the Great 
Salt Lake the avocet is common both in the 
spring and fall on the migrations, and as a sum- 
mer resident. If unmolested, the bird is gentle 
and tame, and can be readily approached. It is 
found along the borders of the larger lakes, 
feeding on the insects and larvse abounding in 
the water near the shore. The alkali ponds of 
the Rocky Mountain states are favorite resorts, 
and the bird is common in southeastern Oregon 
and Montana, passing through Manitoba. 

The avocet breeds through a large part of its 
range, selecting the marshes of the islands in wild 
desert regions, placing the nest in the tallest grass. 



Shore-bird Shooting 333 

and constructing it of the same material. If dis- 
turbed on their nesting-grounds, the birds exhibit 
the greatest concern, feigning wounded and en- 
deavoring to distract the attention of the intruder, 
or circling about on graceful wing, and uttering a 
peculiar sharp cry as they plunge through the air 
almost at him. The little chicks take readily to 
the water and are as much at home as ducklings, 
swimming and diving if occasion require. 

On the Atlantic Coast the bird is rare, and 
more so now than formerly. Instances of its 
capture are recorded from Florida to the Bay of 
Fundy, where one was taken at Point Lepreaux. 
In New Jersey they were formerly taken, and a 
few even bred near Egg Harbor. Giraud speaks 
of its occasional occurrence on Long Island. In 
New England there are but few instances of its 
capture. Dr. Merriam speaks of a specimen 
taken near Saybrook from an old seine laid out 
to dry. Among other New England records are : 
Cape Elizabeth, Maine, November 5, 1878, and 
Natick, Massachusetts. 

This bird is known as blue stocking and white 
snipe. The flesh is of a bluish color and hardly 
palatable. 

BLACK-NECKED STILT 

(^Himantopus mexicanus) 
Adult male in breeding plumage — Forehead, a spot behind the eye, 
lores, entire under parts, rump, and upper tail-coverts, white ; 
rest of the head, neck posteriorly, back, scapulars, and wings, 



334 The PVater-fowl Family 

glossy black, with a greenish reflection ; tail, gray ; bill, black ; 
iris, red ; legs and feet, lake-red. 

Adult fetnale in breeding phmiage — Top of head, back, and scapu- 
lars, brownish slate, otherwise similar to the male ; iris, reddish 
brown. 

Young — Similar to the female, but the feathers of the back, scapu- 
lars, and tertials, bordered with buff; black on the head and 
neck finely mottled with buff. 

Downy yoiing — Above, light fulvous gray, mottled with dusky, and 
marked with black on crown, back and rump; lower parts, 
fulvous white. 

Measurcjuents — Length, 15 inches; wing, 9 inches; culmen, 2.50 
inches ; tarsus, 4 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number ; color, dark drab spotted with bistre ; measure 
1.73 by 1.20 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Florida, the Bahamas, and probably the West 
Indies, and from northern California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, 
Colorado, Kansas, and probably Idaho, south to Louisiana, 
Texas, and Mexico. Winters from the West Indies, Louisiana, 
Texas, and Lower California, south to northern Brazil, Peru, 
and the Galapagos. Rare east of the Mississippi north of 
Florida, but has been recorded north to Massachusetts and New 
Brunswick, and in Bermuda. 

This graceful wader is common in the south- 
western United States and from thence south 
through Mexico and Central America. In May, 
1 90 1, I met with the black-necked stilt near Tam- 
pico. They were in small flocks of from three to 
six individuals, and frequented the marshes along 
the lagoons where the grass was short, keeping 
near the edge of the water and showing no fear 
of the dugout as it was pushed quietly by. The 
birds stopped feeding and watched the craft, tilt- 
ing their bodies exactly after the manner of the 



Shore-bird Shooting 335 

yellowleg, finally taking wing and uttering a 
sharp, clicklike note. The flight was graceful, 
and in a line ; the bright black and white of their 
plumage and their long red legs marked them 
afar. We saw repeatedly these small flocks, 
always a pleasing sight. Later in May they were 
common in Chihuahua on the larger lakes, fre- 
quenting the same places as the avocets, but as far 
as I could see keeping their own company. The 
stilt feeds on insects and larvae, often wading into 
the water for its food. All of the few specimens 
shot showed evidence of approaching incubation. 

This bird is common in the region of the Great 
Salt Lake on its migrations and as a summer 
resident, less abundant in southeastern Oregon. 
Marshes about the barren alkali lakes in this 
vicinity are its breeding-grounds. The nest is 
bulky, constructed of grass, and placed often in 
some wet spot, but built high enough up to keep 
the eggs dry. When disturbed under these cir- 
cumstances they show the greatest anxiety, flying 
about close by, uttering pitiful cries of distress. 

The stilt is found along the shores of the Gulf 
states where it breeds, and was formerly observed 
by Wilson in some numbers on the coast of New 
Jersey; but now is a rare straggler here, and is 
still rarer on Long Island and in New England. 
On the Pacific Coast the bird is uncommon. It is 
also known as white snipe, tilt, long shanks, lawyer. 



CHAPTER X 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

WOODCOCKS, SNIPES, AND SANDPIPERS 

{Scolopacidce) 

This is the largest family of the shore-birds, and 
to it belong most of the birds we see on the banks 
of our lakes and rivers, in our marshes, or on the 
flats left bare by the retreating tide. In the neigh- 
borhood of one hundred species are known, dis- 
tributed in the migrations throughout the world, 
but the great majority breeding in the northern 
hemisphere and many within the Arctic circle. 
About forty-five species occur in North America 
and form the flocks that wheel, now dark, now 
bright in the sunlight, as in their migrations they 
pass along our coast, or fly from one feeding- 
ground to another. Most of the shore-birds in- 
teresting to sportsmen are found in this group, 
for to it belong the woodcock, snipe, yellowlegs, 
godwit, and curlew. Many of them occur on our 
coasts or about the marshes of the interior in 
large flocks during their migrations, and their 
flesh is tender and sweet. 

336 



Shore-bird Shooting 337 

They are rather small birds as a rule, having 
usually long and slender bills with the tip soft 
and fleshy. Several of the woodcocks, snipe, god- 
wit, and sandpipers have the power of opening the 
tip of the bill while the base is closed. These 
birds bore in the soft mud for their food, and this 
faculty is doubtless of great service in enabling 
them to grasp a worm or similar object that the 
sensitive tip of the bill may touch. Others feed 
on small fish, insects, and minute life of various 
kinds that abounds at the water's edge. All are 
graceful birds of pleasing plumage, but few are 
brilliantly colored, and there is little difference 
in the sexes. They are swift on the wing, and 
many, even of the smaller species, travel remark- 
able distances during the year, breeding within 
the Arctic circle and wintering in Patagonia. 

In most of this group the neck is rather long 
and the nostrils are narrow, opening in a groove 
on the side of the bill, which is also true of the 
phalaropes, stilts, and avocets. Their legs are 
covered with transverse scales in front, but their 
anterior toes are not bordered with a broad 
web, although a slight web is present in some 
species at the base. The hind toe is usually 
present. While agreeing in these respects, they 
differ in so many others that the species found in 
North America have been divided into nineteen 
genera. 



33^ The IVater-fowl Family 



EUROPEAN WOODCOCK 
{Scolopax rusticold) 

Male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, rufous mottled 
with gray, buff, and black ; forehead, fore part of crown, chin, 
neck, and lower parts, buff-gray ; crown and nape, crossed by 
four black patches separated by buffy lines ; black line from bill 
to eye and another across ear-coverts ; chin and throat, spotted 
with dusky, rest of lower parts barred with the same ; wing- 
coverts and tertials, rufous, barred with grayish brown, and the 
latter blotched with black and tipped with light gray ; primaries 
and secondaries, brown, barred on outer web and notched on 
inner web with gray and rufous ; rump and upper tail-coverts, 
rufous, faintly barred with gray and buffy ; tail, black, feathers 
notched with rufous on outer webs and tipped with gray above, 
silvery white below ; bill, dusky brown, livid at base of mandible ; 
feet and legs, grayish ; iris, brown. 

Winter plumage of adults — The same. 

Young — Similar but darker; ashy spots on upper parts largely 
replaced by buff; rump and upper tail-coverts more conspicu- 
ously barred ; outer webs of tail feathers less barred with rufous, 
gray tips margined proximally with buff. 

Downy youftg — Rusty ochraceous ; upper parts marked with spots 
of deep rusty, and a band of same on jugulum ; blackish stripe 
from bill to eye. 

Measureinents — Length, 14 inches; wing, 7.35 inches; tail, 3.25 
inches; culmen, 3 inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Four ; rounded oval ; buff, spotted with pale reddish brown 
and gray; measure 1.75 by 1.35 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Great Britain, Scandinavia, Russia, Mongolia, 
and Siberia, north to the Arctic circle ; in the Japanese moun- 
tains, Himalayas, Caucasus, Carpathians, and Alps, and in the 
Azores, Canary, and Madeira islands. Winters in Great 
Britain, southern Europe, northern Africa, east to India, China, 
and Formosa. Occurs in the Faroe Islands, and in North 
America has been reported from Newfoundland, Quebec, Rhode 
Island (?), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 



S bore-bird Shooting 339 

The habits of this bird are much like those of 
our own species. In England the fall " flight " 
occurs in October, and they return to their breed- 
ing haunts in March, laying their eggs in some 
retired spot in the woods in early April. Like 
our bird the female will remove her young if 
danger threatens, and has been watched flying 
with one of them clasped between her thighs. 

The outbreak of a hard northeaster, after a few 
days of light southerly breeze, when the birds are 
moving south in autumn, often causes great num- 
bers to stop on the small island of Heligoland, 
which is less than one mile square. Herr Gatke 
tells us that over 11 00 woodcock were shot or 
netted there, under such conditions, on October 21, 
1823. Many are snared there annually in large 
nets made for this purpose, which measure 36 to 
72 feet in length and about 24 feet in height, the 
meshes being about 2 J inches in diameter, so that 
the woodcock can easily get its head and neck 
through. These nets are set on poles, preferably 
between buildings or high bushes, and so strung 
that they can be dropped as soon as the bird be- 
comes entangled. The woodcock's love of narrow 
passages leads it to the net, the gray of which in 
the early morning and the evening hours it does 
not notice as it passes across the island in migra- 
tion, and sometimes even in bright daylight it con- 
tinues its course until the meshes are around it. 



340 The Water-fowl Family 

AMERICAN WOODCOCK^ 
(^Philohela minor) 

Male and female in breeding plumage — Head, ashy rufous, marked 
with dark line on forehead from culmen, another from bill to 
eye, and on ear-coverts ; occiput, black, crossed by three pale 
rufous lines ; upper parts generally, pale rufous, barred with 
black and blotched with same toward ends of scapulars, inter- 
scapulars, and tertiaries, and many feathers tipped or barred 
with lavender-ash ; primaries and secondaries, brown, the first 
three short and narrow, tipped with pale rufous, and inner sec- 
ondaries vermiculated with the same ; centre of rump and upper 
tail-coverts, black, vermiculated with rufous ; sides of both, pale 
rufous, irregularly barred with black ; tail, black, tipped above 
with gray, below with whitish, and spotted with rufous on outer 
webs ; below, rufous, brighter on sides and flanks, washed with 
gray on breast, becoming buffy on chin and lower abdomen, 
and spotted with black on lower tail-coverts ; bill, brown, 
yellowish at base of mandible, and tipped with black ; feet and 
legs, pale reddish ; iris, brown. 

Winter plumage and young — Similar. 

Downy young — Buff; crown and line from bill through eye, deep 
chestnut ; rest of upper parts spotted with chestnut. 

Measuretnents — Length, ii inches; wing, 5.25 inches; tail, 2.25 
inches; culmen, 2.75 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Eggs — Four; rounded oval ; buff, spotted with brown ; measure 1.50 
by 1.20 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from northern Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and 
Louisiana, north to Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
Quebec, Ontario, and eastern Manitoba, and west to the Red 
River Valley, eastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and 
eastern Colorado. Winters from New Jersey, southern Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, south to the Gulf Coast and west 
to Indian Territory and Texas, and occasionally north to Massa- 
chusetts and Michigan. Recorded doubtfully from Jamaica, 
Labrador, and California. Accidental at York Factory, Hud- 
son Bay, and in Bermuda. 

1 The American woodcock is classed with upland game-birds and 
fully described in the " Upland Game-Birds " of this Hbrary. 



S bore-bird Shooting 341 

EUROPEAN SNIPE 

{Gallinago gallinagd) 

Plumage — Almost exactly similar to G. delicaia, the distinction 
between the species being in the size. In the European variety 
the bill, tarsi, and toes are longer, the wing slightly shorter. 
The tail feathers are normally fourteen (sixteen in the American 
species), the bars on lateral tail feathers are fewer in number 
and feathers broader, and the white generally predominates on 
the under wing-coverts and axillars — the reverse obtaining in 
G. delicata. 

Downy young — Bright chestnut, spotted or striped with black on 
back, below eye, on throat and fore-neck ; line of white below 
eye and much of the down above tipped with silvery white. 

Measurements — Length, 10.50 inches; wing, 5.15 inches; bill, 2.90 
inches ; tarsus, 1.25 to 1.50 inches ; middle toe, 1.30 inches. 

Eggs — Four ; grayish yellow, spotted and patched with brownish 
gray; measure 1.60 by i.io. 

Habitat — Breeds throughout northern Europe and Siberia to about 
70° north latitude, in Iceland and probably Greenland, and 
south in mountain ranges to the Alps, southern Russia, Turke- 
stan, and southern Mongolia, and is said to breed in Algeria. 
Winters in Great Britain and south to the Mediterranean, west 
to the Azores, south in Africa to Gambia and Somaliland, the 
northern shores of the Indian Ocean, the Philippine Islands, and 
China. Has occurred in Bermuda. 

This snipe is found throughout the northern 
parts of the Old World, and closely resembles the 
American variety in habits and appearance. It 
has been found in considerable numbers in Green- 
land and has straggled to Bermuda. In North 
America it has never been taken. 

On Bering Island the English snipe is a 
tolerably common summer resident, breeding on 
the low, swampy tundra ; and in the beginning of 



342 The PVater-fowl Family 

the breeding season its " bleating " is a frequent 
sound during the morning hours. At this time 
the male flies up, slantingly, in the air, with 
rapidly beating wings, uttering his shrill note 
until he reaches a height of about looofeet, when 
he twists and wheels in irregular course, calling a 
loud, shrill zoo-zee; then he darts for earth in 
headlong flight, making a noise that some have 
likened to distant thunder, and others to a bleat. 

Wilson's snipe 

{Gallinago delicatd) 

Adult male and female — Bill, long, flattened, and slightly expanded 
at the tip, punctulated in its terminal half; top of head and 
entire upper parts, brownish black, each feather spotted and 
edged with light rufous ; back and rump, barred and spotted in 
the same way ; a stripe over each eye and on top of head, buff; 
neck, buff, marked with fine black spots or lines ; wing feathers 
marked with brownish black ; other under parts, white, with 
dusky transverse bars on the sides, axillary feathers, under 
wing-coverts, and tail-coverts ; quills, dark ; tail, soft brownish 
black, tipped with bright rufous, and with a subterminal narrow 
band of black ; tail, consists of sixteen feathers ; bill, legs, and 
feet, greenish gray ; iris, brown. 

Measureinents — Length, ii inches; wing, 5.50 inches; tail, 2.25 
inches; bill, 2.50 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Young — Plumage closely resembles the adult, but the breast is 
lighter, not as closely mottled and lined. 

Eggs — Four in number ; pyriform in shape ; ground color, light 
olive, dotted with small dark spots, largest and most abundant 
at the broad end; measure 1.50 by 1.18 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Maine, rarely Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, North 
Dakota, and Oregon, south in the mountains to Pennsylvania, 
Colorado, Utah (?), Nevada, and northern California, north to 



Shore-bird S booting 343 

northern Labrador and the Arctic Coast, from Fort Anderson to 
Bering Straits, and possibly in Greenland. Winters from North 
Carolina, casually north to Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, 
Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, and 
British Columbia, south to the Bermudas, Bahamas, West In- 
dies, Mexico, Central America, and Brazil. Recorded from Great 
Britain and Hawaii, and from Texas in summer. 

The best-known and most popular of all our 
shore-birds, generously distributed over the 
marshes of the interior and along the coast, from 
as far north as the Arctic regions to the West 
Indies and northern South America as a south- 
ern range. There are few more welcome sounds 
than his creaking note as he jumps from your 
very feet in zigzag flight. Whatever else you 
have in mind vanishes. You watch him until 
a speck, still circling around, uncertain where to 
drop ; now he settles, the spot is marked, you 
approach carefully, watching every tussock in the 
bog, knowing he is not ten feet off, yet feel he 
will startle you just as much as he did at first, 
and wish he would hurry up and jump and be 
done with it ; but he takes his own time and prob- 
ably waits until you have walked over him before 
he repeats the trick of twisting himself out of 
range. 

The Wilson's snipe is as erratic as his flight. 
To-day you see him, to-morrow you don't. His 
frequent borings in the soft mud are perhaps 
the only trace of his previous presence. Here he 



344 The IVafer-fowl Family 

thrust in his bill its full length and fed on little 
worms and grubs, a diet that makes his flesh the 
finest of the fine. The flexible tip of a snipe's 
bill enables the bird to feed at the depth of its 
boring without bringing the bill to the surface. 
Our associations with this bird are as pleasant as 
they are varied. The marshes along our coast, 
the inland bogs, and the prairie sloughs are among 
the recollections. Possibly we took the unfair 
advantage of a dog, for snipe usually lie well ; 
this, however, in locations where they abound is 
often unnecessary. We look for them on the 
salt marshes, where there is tender green grass, 
near little springs. Here their borings betray 
them. On the larger meadows usually snipe are 
found in some one particular spot, and this they 
regularly frequent during their visitations ; rarely 
you see one on the ground crouching with bill 
outstretched in perfect harmony with the sur- 
roundings. They should be hunted down wind, 
for then the bird gives a cross shot as it rises. 
Experience teaches the gunner to wait until the 
snipe has ceased its twisting and settled down 
to steady flight, when it is readily shot. The 
Wilson's snipe is nocturnal in its habits and 
migrates at this time ; just at dusk they become 
active, and we often see them darting from one 
marsh to another, in search of a spot to feed. 
The birds are not partial to cold weather, and the 



Shore-hird Shooting 345 

first frosts start them along. They scatter over 
the South, and we find them broadcast on the 
rice-fields of the interior and the swamps through- 
out the Gulf states, or close to the coast, wher- 
ever their happy-go-lucky flight may chance to 
land. Northern South America and West Indies 
see them in winter, and also Mexico and Central 
America. The migration north begins in April, 
and the snipe drop into the same little nooks 
year after year, staying a day or two, then push- 
ing on. While occasionally this species nests 
within our boundary, the breeding range is 
farther north, and the large body pass into the 
Canadian provinces, selecting the marshes on the 
mainland and the islands about the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, the northern coast through Labrador 
and the interior to Hudson Bay, and on the west 
to Alaska. 

A fresh-water marsh is the site generally chosen, 
and the nest is placed in a tussock of grass, likely 
near a clump of trees. It is a mere depression, 
lined with a few dead leaves. June is the incuba- 
tion month. During the mating season the snipe 
changes its habit and becomes very active, often 
being long on the wing. Both sexes mount high 
in air and perform curious evolutions, twisting 
and turning about, finally dropping down a hun- 
dred feet or more, the rushing of their wings 
causing a peculiar roaring sound. The birds 



346 The PVater-fowl Family 

are often seen perching on trees and bushes in 
the vicinity of their nest. The young are cov- 
ered with whitish down, and run soon after they 
are hatched, hiding quickly at the approach of 
danger. At first feeding on Httle larvae, worms, 
and grubs, on the surface, they soon learn the art 
of boring. The little family remain together 
through the summer months, and early in Sep- 
tember congregate in flocks. When startled they 
do not often take flight all at once, like the other 
Limicolae, but in small bunches. With the gener- 
ous distribution of the Wilson's snipe, and breed- 
ing-grounds secure in the bogs and morasses of 
the North, it would seem as if this bird might be 
spared for his friends ; but the inevitable threatens 
him, and now along our eastern coast the old- 
time haunts are poorly patronized. 

GREAT SNIPE 

{Gallinago major) 

Male andfejnale in breedmg phmiage — Upper parts, black, mottled 
and barred with sandy buff; scapulars, bordered with whitish; 
rump and upper tail-coverts, sandy buff, barred with dusky; 
tail-coverts, tipped with whitish ; wing-coverts, bordered with 
whitish, and inner, with black subterminal bar ; primaries and 
secondaries, dark brown, the latter tipped with white ; tail, 
rufous, barred with black and tipped with white, the white tips 
increasing until the four outer tail feathers are chiefly white ; 
centre of crown, superciliary line, and sides of face, whitish ; 
rest of crown, line from bill to eye, spot on ear-coverts and on 
the feathers of face, black ; hind neck and sides of neck, sandy 
buff, streaked with dusky ; chin, breast, and abdomen, white ; 



Shore-bird Shooting 2)A7 

neck, upper breast, and under tail-coverts, sandy buff, the neck 
and breast spotted, flank and tail-coverts barred with blackish ; 
under wing-coverts and axillars, white, barred with black. 

Winter plumage — Sandy buff more pronounced, buff edges to 
feathers above broader and blackish markings on neck larger ; 
otherwise similar. 

Yoimg — Much more rufous than adults ; the black above more uni- 
form and the pale tips to the scapulars and wing-coverts less 
distinct ; the inner, greater wing-coverts and inner secondaries, 
barred with black and rufous ; the sides of head and hind neck 
more rufous, and the white breast and white tail feathers, barred 
with dusky ; bill, brown ; feet and legs, light slate ; iris, brown. 

Downy young — Above, ashy fulvous becoming rufous on crown, 
centre of back and wings ; striped with black on forehead, 
crown, lores, sides of head, back, and flanks ; superciliary line, 
side of head, centre of breast and abdomen white ; rest of lower 
parts, orange-buff. 

Measurements — Length, 1 1 inches ; wing, 5.50 inches ; tail, 2 inches ; 
culmen, 2.50 inches ; tarsus, i .30 inches. 

Eggs — Four; olive-gray, spotted with pale purplish and purplish 
brown; measure 1.65 by 1.15 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Prussia, Poland, Russia, and Siberia, west 
of the Yenesei River, north to beyond 71° north latitude. 
Winters from the Mediterranean to South Africa. Occurs in 
migration from Persia to Great Britain and has been recorded 
from Madeira. A skin in the British Museum was taken in 
Hudson Bay before 1830. 

This is a solitary bird not found in flocks except 
in the beginning of the pairing season, when the 
males meet to " drum," Professor Collett says, and 
sometimes to fight for the females. At this time 
eight or ten birds will collect toward dusk at some 
damp place in a marsh, where there is water be- 
tween the tussocks, and spend most of the night 
in displaying the beauty of their voices and their 



348 The Water-fowl Family 

plumage to the females. A male seated on one 
of the tussocks gives first a whistling note, then a 
snapping of the bill several times, this followed 
by a hissing, and the last by a gradually deepen- 
ing sbirrrr. As he makes these notes, the bird 
seems in an ecstasy, rising and spreading the tail 
like a fan. When two males approach they strike 
feebly at each other for a few minutes with their 
wings, but soon realize their charms are better 
fitted for display than for combat. 

The eggs are laid on a few grass stems in a 
slight hollow of the marsh near some tussock. 



RED-BREASTED SNIPE 

{Macrorhamphus griseus) 

Adult male in breeding plumage — Head, neck, and lower parts gen- 
erally, light cinnamon, becoming white on the abdomen ; breast 
and sides, mottled and speckled with brown ; head and neck, 
streaked with the same ; upper parts, black, mixed with light 
brown and white; rump and upper tail-coverts, white, spotted 
with dusky. 

Fetnale — Resembles the male, but is larger, and the speckling on the 
breast is finer. 

Winter plumage — Belly and under parts, white; rest of plumage, 
uniform gray, mixed somewhat with white on the breast and 
sides ; a faint white stripe over the eyes. 

Young — Head, neck, and upper parts, varied with black and light 
brown, the latter on the edges of the feathers ; lower parts, dull 
white, marked with buff, especially on the breast ; throat and 
sides, indistinctly speckled with dusky ; iris, brown ; bill and 
feet, olive. 

Measurements — Length, ii inches; wing, 5.75 inches; culmen, 
2.25 inches; tarsus, 1.32 inghes; middle toe, i inch. 



Shore-bird Shooting 349 

E^s — Four in number ; color, rufous drab blotched with dark 
brown; measure 1.60 by i.io inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Labrador, northwest possibly to Fort Anderson 
and probably north to Greenland, and is said to have bred south 
to Lake Superior and in Newfoundland. Winters from Florida, 
Louisiana, and the West Indies to Brazil. In migrations for- 
merly abundant, now tolerably common, on the Atlantic Coast 
of the United States. Occurs in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 
and has been reported from Nebraska, Idaho, Oregon, and Lower 
California, and is said to be a non-breeding resident in Louisiana. 
Of occasional occurrence in Great Britain, France, Alaska, and 
Bermuda. 

The common names for this bird along the 
Atlantic Coast are dowitch, or dowitcher, brown- 
back, and grayback. It is distinctly an eastern 
bird, but is often confounded with the long-billed 
dowitcher, the western variety. The red-breasted 
snipe early reaches the coast from its haunts in 
the North. By the last week in July the first 
birds appear, and it is most abundant from this 
time until early in August. Gentle and unsus- 
pecting, the dowitcher has paid the penalty of a 
confiding nature, and the flocks at the present 
time along the favorite flats and marshes of our 
eastern coast are few and far between. This bird 
recalls a morning several years ago in late July. 
It was on Shinnecock Bay, and we left for the 
one good point long before dawn ; the path lay 
just inside the dunes, and in the quiet of early 
morning the mosquitoes seemed in clouds, with- 
out a breath of air to stir them. Four miles of 



350 The Water-fowl Family 

this to the only bhnd. We finally reached it, 
lucky to find no market hunter had camped there 
the night before. The decoys were set, and we 
waited for daylight. The morning at last broke 
cloudy. Soon the first bird, a single brownback, 
appeared over the water, heading for the flat and 
the decoys at its edge. He dropped among them 
and for a time refused to fly, watching first the 
blind and then his wooden companions. Pres- 
ently a flock followed his course, their graceful, 
compact flight distinguishing them at a distance. 
They hovered over the decoys, bunching up close 
together, and hardly a bird escaped the raking 
shots. The few that did, returned again, loath 
to leave their dead and wounded. The wind now 
freshened and for a few hours there was a pretty 
flight, small bunches following each other at short 
intervals, coming out of the east, heading for 
the points in the same direction. By noon they 
had stopped, and we counted a bag of some two 
dozen birds. 

The dowitchers feed on the flats along with the 
other shore-birds, but are the last to leave when 
the gathering is disturbed. Animalcute and 
worms comprise their food, and on this diet 
they become fat and are excellent eating. The 
birds follow the receding tide, and when high 
water drives them from the flats seek the higher 
bars and marshes. South of Long Island this 



Shore-bird Shooting 351 

species becomes more abundant, numbers stop- 
ping on the marshes of Virginia and North 
CaroHna that have passed the more northern feed- 
ing-grounds. The red-breasted snipe visits the 
West Indies and northern South America, where 
it winters. In the spring many return along the 
Atlantic Coast, but a large body probably fol- 
low the more direct route through the interior. 
Early in May I have seen them near the Chesa- 
peake in large flocks, often of several hundred 
individuals. The note of this bird is a plaintive 
whistle, not unlike the yellowleg's, but quick and 
sharp, and it will generally readily respond. The 
far Arctic regions, from the mountains eastward, 
are the breeding-ground, and June is the time for 
incubation. Nests found by MacFarlane at Fort 
Anderson were situated on the borders of small 
lagoons. The eggs were deposited on decayed 
leaves, placed in slight depressions on the mossy 
ground. In the breeding season the note of this 
bird is modified and is said to resemble the song 
of a land-bird, both male and female going through 
queerevolutions of flight. The young are fledged in 
July and left by the old birds to find their way south 
and encounter the dangers that beset the course, 
unaided. The first flocks of young red-breasted 
snipe arrive off Cape Cod and Long Island early 
in September. They are even more readily killed 
than the adults, and but small proportions escape 



352 The Heater-fowl Family 

the gunner's gantlet. In the fall the plumage of 
this bird takes on a gray appearance, and on this 
account it is called grayback along the southern 
shores, though dowitch, dowitcher, and red-breasted 
snipe are the more common names. 

RED-BELLIED SNIPE 

(^Macrorhamphus scolopaceus) 

Adult male in summer — Top of head and back of neck, cinnamon, 
streaked with black, a superciliary line of buff; back and wings, 
black ; feathers margined with reddish brown and white ; rump 
and upper tail-coverts, white, barred with black ; throat, light 
buff; front and sides of neck, cinnamon, mottled with brown ; 
entire under parts, cinnamon spotted with dusky on breast and 
sides; central tail feathers, black, barred with white and buff; 
remainder dark brown, barred with white ; iris, brown ; bill, legs, 
and feet, olive-green. 

Female — Closely resembles male, but is larger. 

Adult in winter — Head, back, and wings, gray, mixed with dark 
brown ; feathers on wing-coverts, edged with light brown ; lower 
back, rump, tail-coverts, and tail, as in summer, but without any 
buff markings ; throat, white, faintly streaked with dusky ; neck 
and breast, brownish gray. 

This species is distinguished from the eastern variety by its 
slightly larger size and longer bill. In the adult plumage the 
breast markings are less numerous and have the appearance of 
being barred rather than spotted ; the cinnamon extends over the 
entire abdomen, and the upper parts are more highly colored. 

Eggs — Resemble the eggs of M.griseus, already described ; measure 
1.80 by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in northeast Siberia and on the coast of Alaska 
from the Yukon Delta to Point Barrow and the Anderson 
River, and probably south to northern British Columbia. Win- 
ters in Florida, Louisiana, the West Indies, Mexico, and prob- 
ably Central and South America, and is said to be a non-breeding 
resident in Louisiana. In the migrations is most common in 



Shore-bird Shooting 353 

the United States in the western Mississippi Valley, occurring 
regularly west to the coast of British Columbia, the interior of 
California, and Lower California, and frequently reported east in 
the fall along the entire Atlantic Coast. Probably many of these 
Atlantic Coast records properly refer to large females of M. 
griseus. 

The western representative of the red-breasted 
snipe, this bird straggles to the Atlantic Coast, 
and there are a number of instances of its oc- 
currence on Cape Cod and Long Island. The 
close resemblance to the eastern variety un- 
doubtedly causes it often to pass unnoticed. The 
western dowitcher is found abundantly in all the 
prairie states and on the Pacific Coast south of 
British Columbia. They are common on the 
ponds and prairie sloughs of Dakota and Mon- 
tana in May, occurring in flocks of eight or a 
dozen, wading around in the shallow water to the 
depth of their long legs, probing the bottom for 
food. A short sojourn under these circumstances 
enables them to rest and fatten. The journey 
north is made in more of a hurry than the return 
trip, and the birds reach the breeding-grounds 
in poor condition. These are in Alaska on the 
marshes about the Yukon and the shores and 
islands to the north. At this time they are very 
active in their courting, and the male noisy and 
demonstrative, disputing the possession of the 
female. When once their variances are settled, 
each pair takes up the duties of nesting. This 



354 The PVater-fowl Family 

species has many of the habits of the red-breasted 
snipe, going through the same pecuHar evolutions 
in its mating season. According to Nelson, sev- 
eral males will chase a female through the air in 
rapid twisting flight, pausing often to utter a harsh 
peet-u-weet, then continuing the pursuit. When 
mated the male, hovering fifteen or twenty yards 
from the ground, on quivering wing, pours 
forth a lisping but musical song, imperfectly 
expressed by peet-peet ; pee-ter wee-too; wee-too. 
The nest is a little hollow on the ground, and the 
eggs are four in number. Late in July the birds 
are seen on their return trip along the same 
migratory courses followed in the spring. Arriv- 
ing on the California coast, the flocks frequent 
the shallow flats and marshes, where many are 
killed. I saw them in numbers on the shores of 
the small lakes, scattered at long intervals through- 
out the plains of northern Mexico, in flocks of ten 
or fifteen and in company often with the teal and 
shovellers; gentle and not annoyed by our ap- 
proach, they fed together unconcerned, wading 
deep into the water or dabbling at its edge. When 
we came a little too close they ran together and 
stood motionless in a compact little bunch. The 
flight was in the same close array, and few would 
have escaped a shot. On the wing occasionally 
their note was heard, a whistle, which was quickly 
responded to. The birds circled and returned, 



Shore-bird Shooting 355 

settling within close range; although in late April 
the winter plumage was still in evidence, the 
summer dress was beginning to be assumed. 



STILT SANDPIPER 
{Micropalama himantopus) 

Adult tnale and female in breeding plumage — Front and top of head, 
black, streaked with buff, feathers tipped with rufous ; a stripe 
from bill to eye and ear-coverts, rufous ; neck, white, streaked 
with dusky ; back and upper parts, black, variegated with gray 
and buff; wings, dark gray ; primaries, slate ; rump, gray ; upper 
tail-coverts, white, the larger ones barred with dusky ; middle 
tail feathers, light gray, the others varied longitudinally with 
white and gray ; lower parts, light buflf; throat and breast, 
streaked, the other portions closely barred with dusky. 

Adtdt in winter — Top of head, back, sides of neck, gray; super- 
ciliary stripe and under parts, white, streaked with gray on neck, 
breast, and lower tail-coverts. 

Young — Top of head, brownish, streaked with buff; neck behind, 
gray ; back and scapulars, blackish, feathers bordered with buff; 
wing-coverts bordered with buff and white ; upper tail-coverts, 
white ; lower parts, white, the breast and sides suffused with 
buff; breast, sides of the neck, and flanks, slightly streaked with 
gray ; iris, brown ; feet, yellowish green ; bill, black. 

Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 5.25 inches; culmen, 1.50 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Three or four in number ; ground color, light drab, with large 
round markings of dusky, most numerous about the large end ; 
measure 1.50 by 1.05 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the shores of Franklin Bay and probably 
south to Hudson Bay. In migrations tolerably common on 
the Atlantic Coast in fall, rare in the spring ; more common in 
the western part of the Mississippi Valley and casually west to 
British Columbia, Wyoming, and Colorado, and east to Ber- 
muda. Passes south in winter to the West Indies and through 
Central America to Argentina, Chili, and Peru. 



35^ The Heater-fowl Family 

This species is nowhere found in large num- 
bers, but is a regular migrant along the Atlantic 
Coast, arriving early, often accompanying the first 
flights of lesser yellowlegs. Long Island is a 
favorite resort for the stilt sandpiper, and it here 
goes by the name of bastard on account of the 
former belief that it was a hybrid. These birds 
are taken most abundantly in the last few days of 
July and early August. I have seen them at this 
time in small flocks, but usually alone or in twos 
or threes. They have much the same flight and 
appearance at a short distance as the summer yel- 
lowlegs, though a perceptibly smaller bird. The 
note is not often uttered, but they are readily per- 
suaded to drop into decoys at the invitation of the 
yellowlegs' whistle. I have never killed more than 
five or six of these birds in a morning's shooting, 
but have been informed by the gunners that occa- 
sionally there is a regular flight lasting a day or 
so, when considerable numbers are seen and killed. 
Rarely flocks of some size are noticed. These are 
all adult birds, the young following three weeks 
or more later, and are found under the same cir- 
cumstances and in about the same numbers late 
in August. North of Long Island the stilt sand- 
piper is rare. On Cape Cod it is seldom killed. 
Several instances of its occurrence near Halifax 
have come to my attention, and I believe the bird 
regularly appears in this vicinity and on the 



Shore-bird Shooting 357 

islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, probably 
about the middle of July, and the early date of its 
passage south is doubtless a reason why more 
have not been taken. Late in August, 1894, I 
shot a number of young stilt sandpipers near 
Cooperstown, North Dakota. They were in a 
considerable flock on the edge of a small pond. 
In the spring these birds are very seldom seen on 
the Atlantic Coast of the United States, their 
migration being along the Mississippi Valley and 
to the west. While shore-bird shooting on Broad- 
water Bay, Virginia, in May, 1896, I took a single 
specimen of this bird; it was the first the gun- 
ners there had seen in the spring. There are also 
a few instances of the bird being taken on Long 
Island and in Connecticut in late May and early 
June. MacFarlane found this species breeding at 
Rendezvous Lake, and it was tolerably common 
at Franklin Bay. He obtained the eggs now in 
the Smithsonian Institute. The nest is placed 
on the ground and lined with leaves and grass. 



KNOT 

{Tringa canutus) 

Adult mate and female in breeding plumage — Head and upper parts, 
pale gray, variegated with black and reddish ; rump and upper 
tail-coverts, white, barred with black ; superciliary stripe, throat, 
breast, and sides of abdomen, light cinnamon ; lower abdomen, 
pure white ; under tail-coverts and flanks, white, spotted with 
black; iris, brown; bill, legs, and feet, black. 



35^ The IVater-fowl Family 

Adult male atid fe7nale in winter — Top of head and neck, dark 
gray, streaked with white ; upper parts, back, and scapulars, gray, 
feathers tipped with white ; under parts, white ; sides of face, 
neck, and breast, striped or barred with gray. 

Young — Above, light ashy gray, darlcest on the back, each feather 
bordered with white, with a dusky edge ; upper tail-coverts, 
white, marked with dusky ; lower parts, whitish, becoming pure 
white on the abdomen ; neck and breast, marked with streaks 
and flecks of dusky ; an indistinct, light superciliary stripe. 

Downy young — Buff to cream color, marked above with black and 
rufous, the black markings exceeding the ground color on 
crown, back, and rump. 

Measurements — Length, lo inches; wing, 6.50 inches; tail, 2.50 
inches; bill, 1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Eggs — Probably four in number, resemble a snipe's, and measure 
1.60 by 1. 10 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in northern Greenland, Grinnell Land, Melville 
Island and Peninsula, and possibly in Iceland and near Point 
Barrow, Alaska. Winters from southern Florida and the West 
Indies to Trinidad, French Guiana, and Brazil. In migrations 
formerly abundant, but rapidly becoming rare on the Atlantic 
Coast of North America, rare in the interior, and very rare on 
the Pacific Coast, except possibly in British Columbia. In the 
migrations the knot occurs throughout most of the eastern 
hemisphere, but does not breed, unless in Iceland. Winters 
from the coast of the Mediterranean to South Africa on the 
Atlantic ; in India, Australia, and New Zealand. 

The red-breasted sandpiper has a world-wide 
distribution and is a universal favorite among our 
shore-birds. In this country it goes by many 
different names ; the usual ones are knot, robin- 
snipe, Maybird, red-breasted plover, robin's breast. 
Its common range is along the Atlantic Coast ; but 
the bird is occasionally taken in the interior, and 
has been found on the Pacific Coast of Alaska. 



Shore-bird Shooting 359 

As it breeds in the remotest Arctic regions, its 
nest has seldom been taken. An egg from Fort 
Conger, latitude 81° 44", was brought to Wash- 
ington by Lieutenant Greely.^ It was light pea- 
green, closely spotted with small specks of brown, 
and measured i.io by i inches. The knot has 
been seen breeding on the North Georgian 
Islands and the Melville Peninsula. The eggs 
are placed in a depression on the ground or in 
a clump of grass. " When courting, these birds 
play with each other on the wing and upon the 
ground, in the most interesting manner, pursuing, 
avoiding, and encouraging one another; while 
the clear, sweet, flutelike whistle of the male is 
frequently heard." When the young are hatched 
both parents go through the usual "wounded-bird" 
manoeuvre to draw attention from their young. 
The adult birds appear on the Atlantic Coast of 
the United States early in August and are most 
abundant, perhaps, about the tenth of the month ; 
but the full, ruddy plumage of the spring is faded, 
and the paler winter dress is more or less evident 

1 The egg taken at Fort Conger, Mr. Seebohn believed to be 
wrongly identified on account of its small size, and that it was rather 
an egg of the semipalmated sandpiper, which " it exactly resembles 
in size and color." But it is stated that the parent was taken with 
this egg. An egg, now in the British Museum, believed to belong 
to this species, is one of a set of four procured with the parent bird, 
near Disco, Greenland, in 1875. This egg resembles that of a snipe, 
and measures 1.60 by i.io inches. 



360 The Water-fowl Family 

in the gray and white feathers of the back and 
breast. 

The robin-snipe frequent the larger lagoons 
and feed on the outer sand-bars, seldom coming 
on to the marsh. The birds are usually seen in 
small flocks and keep to themselves, or occasionally 
feed with the blackbreast. The flight is speedy 
and graceful, and they often close up in a bunch 
when suddenly startled. Quickly fattening on 
their summer diet, the flesh is as delicate as that 
of the golden plover. In most of the resorts for 
shore-birds along our eastern shores this bird is 
a short sojourner, and, undoubtedly, many of the 
flocks in calm weather keep out to sea, trusting 
no longer the favorite haunts of the past. The 
flight of the young birds occurs late in August 
and lasts into September. These are tame and 
gentle, and are readily shot as they huddle together 
over the decoys, often returning to hover over 
their wounded. 

The robin-snipe is generally a silent bird, but 
sometimes its call is heard, — a mellow, low-pitched 
whistle, readily responded to if well imitated. 
One of my pleasant recollections of shore-bird 
shooting is associated with this bird. I give the 
date with some hesitation, for it was May 10, near 
Cobb's Island. During several days previous red- 
breast had been flying, but the tides were not 
suitable, and it was useless to try for them. Here 



Shore-bird Shooting 361 

the flight is along the outer beach, at the edge of 
the surf, the birds stopping to feed on the mud 
flats exposed by the falling tide. The sun was 
not up and the water still high as we set the 
decoys off one of the points along the beach, close 
to the breaking waves ; the blind was of seaweed, 
and before we were settled the first flock passed 
by high up, but a pair of birds dropped out of it 
and hovered in front of us ; another minute and 
ten more swung in. Flock after flock, from a few 
birds to hundreds, passed in the same line, coming 
into sight over the ocean, striking the beach and 
following its edge, — now low just over the surf, 
now high up, — the first light of sunrise giving 
them a black appearance. The undulating char- 
acter of the flight was unmistakable and was in 
evidence when the dark line first appeared — now 
distinct on the horizon, presently out of sight in 
the waves, all of a sudden rising up over the 
decoys to circle in. Our chance lasted only a 
few minutes, for when the flat was exposed the 
birds all passed by out of range ; occasionally we 
whistled in an odd one, but the flocks shied off. 
As we carried back our basket of birds it did not 
occur to us that the experience of that morning 
would be our last flight of redbreast, but it was. 

Since the spring of 1898 this bird has decreased 
remarkably along the Atlantic Coast, and, with the 
present ravages of spring shooting in Virginia and 



362 The Water-fowl Family 

North Carolina, a beautiful shore-bird will soon 
become rare. 

After leaving the shores of Virginia not many 
at present appear on Long Island, or even Cape 
Cod, and in fair weather the body undoubtedly 
keep out to sea, stopping on the islands in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence as their next resting-place, 
then proceeding north along the coast. 

Four eggs identified as those of the knot, the 
parent of which was seen but not collected, were 
taken in Iceland in 1890. These eggs are said 
to be unlike those of any other sandpiper, having 
an emerald-green ground color, which is covered 
rather closely and uniformly with small reddish 
spots. The measurements of these eggs are not 
given, but a plate indicates that they are about 
the size of those of a killdeer or Wilson's snipe. 

PURPLE SANDPIPER 
{Tringa maritima) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, neck, 
back, blackish brown, feathers edged with chestnut or buff; 
wings, grayish brown ; coverts tipped with white, forming a bar 
across the wing ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and central tail feathers, 
dark brown ; lateral tail feathers, light brown ; an obscure super- 
ciliary white streak ; throat and jugulum, white, streaked with 
brown ; breast, gray, tinged with rufous, the feathers tipped with 
white ; the rest of under parts, white, streaked on flanks and 
under tail-coverts with pale brown ; bill, dark brown ; legs and 
feet, yellowish ; iris, brown. 

Adult tnale and fejnale in winter — Upper parts, black, with a 
purple gloss, feathers tipped with gray ; head, lead-gray ; throat, 



Shore-bird Shooting 363 

white; breast, gray, tinged with darker; under parts, white, 
streaked on flanks and under tail-coverts with dusky brown ; the 
plumage lacks entirely the chestnut and brown of the spring. 

Young— In the young the feathers of the back are tipped with white 
in winter plumage. 

Downy young — Hair brown above, becoming grayish white on head ; 
spotted with black on head, lores, back, wings, and flanks, and 
with white or golden yellow on back, wings, and rump ; lower 
parts, grayish white. 

Measurements — l.&^g\h, 8.50 inches; wing, 5 inches; culmen, 1.20 
inches ; tarsus, .90 inch ; tail, 2.50 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number, pale brownish buff, mottled with dark 
brown, and measure 1.50 by i inches. 

Habitat— \n North America, breeds in Greenland, Cumberland, 
Melville Peninsula, northern shore of Hudson Bay and probably 
west to Herschel Island, and is said to have bred in Vermont. 
Winters in southern Greenland and probably Labrador, and from 
Nova Scotia south regularly to Long Island, New York, and ir- 
regularly to Bermuda, Florida, the Great Lakes, and upper Mis- 
sissippi Valley to Missouri. In the eastern hemisphere, breeds 
in Norway, northern Russia, and northwestern Siberia, Nova 
Zembla, Spitzbergen, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Winters 
in Norway, Iceland, the Faroes, Great Britain, and south to the 
Mediterranean, and has been recorded once from South Africa. 

A bird of the remote North, the purple sand- 
piper comes within our boundaries only in the 
coldest weather. In Maine and New England, 
these birds arrive in December and frequent the 
rocks and rugged beaches along the wildest part 
of the coast, occasionally in flocks of some size ; 
but as a rule they are seen in twos and threes and 
often alone. The purple sandpiper is exceedingly 
o-entle and pays no attention to man's presence, 
searching intently for its food among the rocks left 



364 The IVater-fowl Family 

bare and wet by the falling tide. All winter long 
they stay braving the cold and hardest weather. 

While duck-shooting on the small rocky islands 
in Long Island Sound I have often watched the 
bird a few feet off, indifferent to all danger, 
picking among the barnacles, occasionally utter- 
ing its soft note as it took to wing. I shot one 
under these circumstances in early May with a 
few of the spring feathers noticeable in its plu- 
mage. Usually with the first indication of end- 
ing winter they are on their way north, following 
the coast to the breeding-grounds in the Arctic 
regions, — here visiting Iceland, Greenland, Spitz- 
bergen, and Nova Zembla. June is the time for 
incubation, and the nest is placed on elevated 
ground in some slight depression, lined with moss 
'or grass. Only in the breeding season does it 
leave its loved rocky shores and seek the borders 
of some fresh-water lake to rear its young, return- 
ing as soon as possible to the ocean's roar. At 
this time the males gave a cry like that of the 
Bartramian sandpiper, but lower and shorter, 
strutting and elevating the wings while uttering 
this note. In its breeding plumage the purple 
sandpiper is seldom seen. The birds remain 
north until late fall, and even winter in Greenland 
in some numbers, huddling together on protected 
ledges and fissures of the rocks for protection, 
when threatened with heavy weather. 



S bore-bird S booting 365 

While most common along the coast, it is 
found through the Great Lake region and has 
even occurred in Missouri. It is not found on 
the Pacific Coast. 

ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER 
( Tringa ptilocnemis couesi) '• 

Adult male and female in breedmg plumage — Above, slate, the 
feathers of the dorsal region widely bordered with bright cinna- 
mon, in the centre, black ; wing-coverts, bordered with white ; 
greater coverts tipped with white, forming a bar across the 
wing ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail feathers, dusky ; 
a white superciliary stripe extending to the back of the neck ; 
neck, jugulum, and breast, grayish white, or buff, spotted with 
slate ; remaining lower parts, pure white ; iris, brown ; bill, legs, 
and feet, greenish yellow ; end of bill, dark. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Above, soft smoky gray, 
with a purplish gloss ; scapulars and interscapulars, bordered 
with slate ; head and neck, uniform plumbeous, except the 
throat, which is streaked with white ; jugulum, scaled with white ; 
breast more broadly marked in a similar way. 

Young — Scapulars, interscapulars, and crown, black, bordered 
broadly with brown or buff; jugulum and breast, pale buff or 
buffy white, streaked with dusky. 

Downy young — Similar to T. maritima, but more rufous above, 
becoming light fulvous on head ; white markings larger ; sides 
tinged with fulvous. 

Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 5 inches; culmen, 1.25 
inches; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Pale olive-buff, spotted with umber-brown; measure 1.46 by 
I inches. 

^ A series of sixty-three specimens, almost all young birds, which 
I collected at St. Michael, Alaska, and Unalaska, in September and 
early October, 1899, show a complete intergradation, both in size and 
color, from birds thoroughly typical of T. couesi to others indistin- 
guishable from T. ptilocnemis taken in the Pribilofs. — L. B. B. 



366 The IVater-fowl Family 

Habitat — Breeds on the Shumagin, Aleutian, and Commander 
islands, and probably on the Kuril Islands, and possibly on the 
coast of northeastern Siberia and northwestern Alaska ; wanders 
northward in late summer and early fall, to the Alaskan coast 
of Bering Sea and through Bering Straits into the Arctic Ocean, 
to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, and Plover Bay, Siberia. Winters 
on the Commander, Kuril, and Aleutian islands, Kadiak, and the 
coast of Alaska, south of Sitka. 

The resemblance between this bird and the 
purple sandpiper is so close that distinction in the 
winter plumage is made with difficulty. A care- 
ful comparison shows less of the purple gloss on 
the back, and the fore neck streaked with white 
in the western variety. It is common on the 
Aleutian Islands and the coast of Bering Sea, 
also on the Siberian shore. These birds have 
all the habits of the purple sandpiper, frequenting 
the rocky portions of the coast. When storm 
driven, they seek the shelter of the smaller bays, 
congregating in large flocks, allowing easy ap- 
proach. On the Commander Islands they are 
found throughout the year. In the spring the 
flocks break up and the birds pair, selecting a 
nesting-place, which is on the ground, often in 
a tussock of grass not far from the water. 

At the beginning of the breeding season the 
male Aleutian sandpiper, rising on quivering 
wings from the mossy tundra, utters a loud, melo- 
dious twitter, almost a song, settling with out- 
stretched wings as the notes die away ; then seated 



Shore-bird Shooting 367 

on a tussock, quivering with excitement, its wings 
hanging, it *' bleats " like the Wilson's snipe. 

PRIBILOF SANDPIPER 
{Tringa ptilocnemis) 

Adult male and fetnale in breeding plumage — Similar to T. mari- 
tima, but larger, and lighter in coloring; back and scapulars, 
light clay color, centre of each feather black, their tips whitish ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts, slate, feathers with lighter tips ; 
wings, plumbeous, the coverts bordered with grayish white ; 
greater coverts, broadly tipped with white ; several of the inner 
secondaries, pure white ; primaries, slate, with white shafts ; 
pileum, light fulvous, streaked with dark ; back of neck, the same 
color, mixed with gray ; rest of head, including a superciliary 
stripe and entire lower parts, white ; jugulum, streaked with 
dusky ; breast, marked with dusky blotches ; flanks and under 
tail-coverts, narrowly streaked with dusky. 

Adult male and female in winter pbcmage — Wings, rump, tail- 
coverts, and tail, and posterior lower parts, as in summer; 
remaining upper parts, light gray ; the feathers of the back, dark 
in the centre, with a faint purplish gloss ; head, light gray ; 
throat, white ; jugulum and breast, white, irregularly marked with 
pale gray ; the upper parts are much lighter than in T. maritima. • 

Young — Similar to the summer dress of the adult, but the wing- 
coverts are widely bordered with buff, as are the feathers of the 
head and neck ; jugulum, light buff, marked with streaks of 
gray ; bill, feet, and legs, yellowish green ; bill, tipped with dark ; 
iris, brovyn. 

Downy young — Similar to T. pt. cotiesi, but paler; dark markings 
on lores smaller. 

Measurements — Length, 9.50 inches; wing, 5.25 inches; culmen, 
1.25 inches; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; olive-yellow, with numerous large spots of 
dark brown; measure 1.55 by i.io inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on St. Matthew, St. Lawrence, and the Pribilof 
islands. Winters on the coast of southeastern Alaska, in the 
neighborhood of the Chilkat Peninsula. 



368 The PVater-fowl Family 

Closely resembling the forms just described, 
the habits of the Pribilof sandpiper are similar to 
its relatives'. 

On the Pribilofs this bird is abundant and 
tame, living on the moss-covered tundra, on the 
shores of the pools, and in late summer along the 
beaches. The young leave the nest as soon as 
hatched and are well protected by the resemblance 
of their upper parts to the colors of the vegetation 
around. When they are approached, the mother, 
feigning lameness, attempts to draw the intruder 
away, while the young, flat on the ground with 
outstretched necks, will allow themselves to be 
touched rather than betray their location by a 
movement. 

SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER 
(Tringa acuminata) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Above, reddish bufF, 
feathers with black centres ; top of head, ear-coverts, and neck 
posteriorly, streaked with black and rusty ; rump and middle 
upper tail-coverts, brownish black ; lateral upper tail-coverts, 
white, streaked with dusky ; middle tail feathers, dusky, edged 
with white; remainder, deep brownish gray, bordered with 
white ; a white superciliary stripe ; breast, pale brownish gray ; 
rest of lower parts, white ; lower parts marked with dark brown 
spots, which are small on the throat and breast, large and squa- 
mate on the flanks and abdomen, and large and lanceolate on 
the under tail-coverts ; iris, brown ; bill, black at tip, greenish 
yellow at base ; legs and feet, greenish yellow. 

Adult male and fetnale in winter — Upper parts, grayish brown, 
streaked and striped with dusky ; top of head, rusty ; superciliary 
stripe and lower parts, dull white ; chest and sides of breast, 



Shore-hird Shooting 369 

pale grayish buff, the chest indistinctly streaked with dusky; 
lower tail-coverts with dusky shafts. 

Young — Above, bright rusty, the feathers with black centres; the 
whole top of head, bright reddish brown, broadly streaked with 
black; on each side, a finely streaked superciHary stripe of 
white; outer scapulars, tipped with white; rump and middle 
upper tail-coverts, brownish black, tipped with brown ; middle 
tail feathers, black, edged with brown ; remaining tail feathers, 
dusky, bordered with whitish ; cheeks, whitish, streaked with 
dusky ; jugulum, breast, and sides, deep buff, finely streaked 
with dusky ; remaining lower parts, including the throat, 
white. 

Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; culmen, i 
inch; tarsus, 1.12 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds probably in eastern Siberia, going south in winter 
to Oceanica, Australia, New Zealand, and the Malay Archipelago, 
through China and Japan. It is common on the north shore of 
Siberia in August, and fairly common at St. Michael, Alaska, 
in September, occurring also at Kotzebue Sound, the Pribilof 
Islands, Unalaska, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and Hawaii, 
and has been taken in Great Britain. 



An Asiatic species taken on the Alaskan coast. 
Nelson took a female at St. Michael in 1877 
and later found it a common species, frequenting 
the pools on the marshes in common with the 
pectoral sandpiper. In habits the sharp-tailed 
sandpiper resembles the latter, but differs from it 
in plumage, having the top of the head more red- 
dish and the breast without streaks. On the 
Siberian coast this bird is common. It occurs 
near St. Michael in small flocks the latter part 
of September, but has not been taken in Alaska 
during the breeding season. 



370 The PVater-fowl Family 

PECTORAL SANDPIPER^ 
{Tringa maculata) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head and upper 
parts, with scapulars and tertials, light clay color tinged with 
rusty ; the feathers have brownish black centres ; wing-coverts, 
grayish brown, edged with buff; primaries, dark brown; rump 
and upper tail-coverts, brownish black, narrowly tipped with 
reddish buff; central tail feathers, dusky, edged with lighter; 
others, pale brownish gray, bordered with white ; superciliary 
stripe, white ; cheeks, sides of neck, jugulum, and breast, pale 
buff, streaked with dusky ; remaining lower parts, pure white. 

Adult male and female in winter — Similar to the summer plumage, 
but the rusty tint above wanting and the black markings less 
sharply defined. 

Young — Similar to the adult in summer, but scapulars conspicuously 
tipped with white; the breast more distinctly buff; iris, brown; 
bill, tip, brownish, base, yellowish green ; legs and feet, greenish. 

Measurements — Length, 9 inches; wing, 5 inches; culmen, 1.15 
inches; tarsus, 1.05 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number ; greenish drab in color, spotted and blotched 
with brown ; measure 1.50 by i inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the coast of Alaska, north of the peninsula, 
abundantly at the Yukon Delta and Point Barrow, and probably 
east on the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the banks of the 
Anderson River. Winters from Mexico and the West Indies, 
south to Chili and Patagonia, but chiefly in southern South 
America,, and occurs in flocks in Argentina through all the year 

1 Cooper's Sandpiper (Tringa cooperi^. — A sandpiper shot on 
Long Island, New York, on May 24, 1833, by William Cooper, and 
named by Professor Baird in honor of its discoverer, has remained 
unique. This bird is described as identical in plumage with the 
white-rumped sandpiper, except that there is less of a reddish tinge 
above, and the white upper tail-coverts are spotted with V-shaped 
markings of dusky. It is, however, about the size of the knot, with 
a length of 9.50 inches; wing, 5.80 inches; culmen, 1.25 inches; 
tarsus, 1.20 inches. This bird is supposed to be a hybrid between 
the pectoral sandpiper and knot. 



S bore-bird Shooting 371 

excepting from November 15 to January 15. In the migrations 
it is abundant on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and in 
Bermuda in the fall, but very rare in the spring ; common in the 
Mississippi Valley at both seasons, but almost unknown on the 
Pacific Coast south of British Columbia, excepting Lower Cali- 
fornia. It has been taken rarely on the Pribilof Islands, Una- 
laska, Hawaii, and in Greenland, and quite frequently in England. 

The pectoral sandpiper is a common bird along 
the Atlantic Coast in summer and fall, where it is 
known by a number of different names. Jack-snipe 
is a term often applied to this variety. It is also 
called krieker, — on account of its note, a sharp 
kriek-kriek^ — and grass bird, meadow snipe, hay 
bird, and brown snipe. While sparing numbers 
appear early in August, the first large flocks ar- 
rive later, toward the end of the month. They 
frequent the salt marshes along our coast and 
often spread out over the meadows, something 
after the manner of the English snipe, under 
such circumstances allowing an easy approach. 
While fond of these surroundings, sometimes they 
straggle on to the neighboring flats in company 
with the yellowlegs or flocks of peep, on their 
route readily stopping to decoys. On the ground 
the pectoral sandpiper is a sedate little bird, walk- 
ing deliberately with bill downward ; when alight- 
ing, the wings are raised over the back and carefully 
folded. They are very abundant on the islands in 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the mainland 
adjacent, arriving early in September in large 



372 The Water-fowl Family 

flocks. These birds, which are the young of the 
year, keep pretty much together on the marshes, 
sometimes feeding with the golden plover. I 
have often noticed the birds together on the Mag- 
dalen Islands; here the kriekers if undisturbed 
remain in the same locations. When they take 
wing, they fly in a compact bunch, and if within 
range, an opportunity is offered of killing many 
birds at a shot. The flocks increase in numbers 
until late in the month, when the last arrivals 
seem to have come. This same flight is notice- 
able to a less extent farther south, and on the 
New England and Long Island coasts the young 
pectorals are found in October, coming perhaps 
after a storm or heavy weather. These birds follow 
along our coast to South America, stopping at the 
West Indies, extending their flight even to Pata- 
gonia. The spring flight is over the interior along 
the Mississippi Valley. Very few are taken at this 
time on the Atlantic Coast. The return trip is 
made in May, and the pectoral sandpiper is often 
a common bird in the markets of the West at this 
time. Until a recent description of their breed- 
ing habits by Nelson, little has been known of 
this subject. He says, the pectoral sandpiper 
reaches St. Michael and the shores of Bering 
Sea about the middle of May; the birds then 
pair. During the mating season the male has a 
peculiar habit of inflating the throat and uttering 



S bore-bird Shooting 373 

a musical and resonant note, the skin of the 
neck and breast becoming flabby and loose, hang- 
ing down in a pendulous flap if not distended. 
When courting the female, the male crosses back 
and forth in front of her, persistent in his atten- 
tions, with chest swelled out, at times rising high 
in the air and going through the same perform- 
ances. The nest is placed on the ground in a 
tuft of grass and contains four eggs. 

The young are fledged in July and migrate 
south about three weeks after the old birds. 

The male pectoral sandpiper is so much larger 
than the female that more than one sportsman has 
been convinced they were different birds. 

WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER 
( Tringa fuscicollis) 

Adtilt male and female in breeding plutnage — Upper parts, light 
grayish brown, the feathers tinged with buff, marked centrally 
with black ; the black markings largest on the scapulars, else- 
where in streaks ; rump, dusky, the feathers bordered with gray ; 
upper tail-coverts, pure white ; tail, dark gray, the central feathers 
darkest, all with white edges; wing-coverts, brownish gray; 
superciliary stripe and entire lower parts, pure white ; sides of 
head, neck, and jugulum, streaked with dusky. 

Adult ?nale and fetnale in winter — Wings, rump, upper tail-coverts, 
and tail, as described above ; rest of upper parts, brownish gray, 
streaked indistinctly with black ; under parts, white ; jugulum, 
more faintly streaked than in the breeding plumage. 

Young— Back and scapulars, black, feathers tipped with white ; those 
in the middle of the back and rump, edged with rusty ; wing- 
coverts, bordered with pale buff; breast, grayish ; otherwise hke 
aduh in summer ; iris, brown ; bill, feet, and legs, greenish black. 



374 The IVater-fowl Family 

Measurements — Length, 7 inches ; wing, 5 inches ; culmen, i inch ; 
tarsus, I inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; pyriform in shape ; ground color, dark drab, 
marked with patches of brown and black ; measure i .35 by .95 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, at Franklin 
Bay, and probably to Greenland on the east, Point Barrow on 
the west, and Hudson Bay on the south. Winters from the 
Bahamas, West Indies, and the Gulf of Mexico, south to Pata- 
gonia and the Falkland Islands. In Uruguay it is found in 
flocks excepting from November 15 to January 15, in Patagonia 
all the year, and it is said to breed on the Falkland Islands. 
In the migrations it is most abundant in the United States 
in the Mississippi Valley, regularly west to Colorado, and has 
occurred in California ; on the Atlantic Coast it is tolerably com- 
mon in fall and rare in spring, and occurs in Bermuda. Sev- 
eral have been taken in Great Britain, and one in Franz Josef 
Land. 

The Bonaparte's or white-rumped sandpiper 
is common throughout the eastern United States, 
occurring as far west as the Rocky Mountains. 
On the Atlantic Coast they are a common migrant ; 
abundant along the Labrador shores, reaching the 
mainland early in August, arriving in small relays 
and frequenting the beaches and flats in company 
with the smaller peep. Their numbers steadily 
increase until by the middle and toward the end 
of the month vast flocks are seen. These birds 
follow the receding tide, feeding on the animal- 
culae that swarm at the water's edge. With the 
first flow they are driven from the flats and return 
to the higher bars. On the Magdalen Islands I 
have seen them in countless flocks flying com- 



Shore-bird Shooting 375 

pactly in a black mass, turning and twisting in 
unison ; now the white breasts gleam in the light, 
the next second the dark backs and white rumps, 
a spot that always marks them. They have no 
fear, and should a flock light among the decoys 
the birds sometimes come on to the seaweed blind, 
paying no heed to the occupant, provided he 
remain motionless. When startled they all rise 
together and with a rush of wings are off, utter- 
ing their note, a sharp tseet. All through August 
these birds remain and then diminish in numbers 
as the flight south is resumed. They are common 
all along our coast, but not in the same vast flocks 
as in the North. The southern migration extends 
along both coasts of South America as far south 
as Chili and the Argentine Republic. The young 
birds follow in September and often linger late on 
our shores. I have killed them late in November 
on Long Island. The spring flight north is mostly 
through the interior, although limited numbers 
follow along the Atlantic Coast. May is the 
month for their return. Throughout the Barren 
Grounds they breed as far north as the shores of 
the Arctic Sea. The nest is a shallow depression 
on the ground, and three or four eggs are laid on 
the moss or leaves, if leaves there be. The young 
are hatched in late June, and by July are deserted 
by the old birds. 



Zi^ The JVater-fowl Family 

baird's sandpiper 

{Tringa bairdii) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, variegated 
with black and grayish buff, centre of the feathers black, with bufi 
borders ; on the crown and anterior portions of the back, the 
black is in streaks ; rump and upper tail-coverts, brownish black ; 
tail, brownish gray, middle feathers nearly black, and all edged 
with whitish ; wing-coverts, grayish brown ; lower parts, white ; 
sides of the head, neck, and jugulum, buff, streaked with dusky. 

Adult male and female in winter — Upper parts, grayish clay color, 
feathers with dark central streaks, edged with whitish ; rump 
and upper tail-coverts, dusky, feathers bordered with gray ; the 
lateral upper tail-coverts, brownish white ; under parts, brownish 
white ; the sides of the neck, jugulum, and breast, and flanks, suf- 
fused with buff; iris, brown ; bill, black ; legs and feet, dark slate. 

Young — Upper parts, similar, but the feathers of the back more 
bordered with whitish ; sides of the head, neck, jugulum, and 
breast, pale clay color, indistinctly streaked with dusky ; other 
lower parts, white. 

Measure?nents — Length, 7.25 inches ; wing, 4.75 inches ; culmen, 
I inch ; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; light drab, spotted with bright sepia-brown ; 
measure i .40 by i inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from the Anderson River to Point Barrow, Alaska, 
and possibly south to James Bay. Winters in southern South 
America, most common in Chili, but occurring in Argentina and 
Uruguay, passing through Central America in migration. In the 
United States, common in migration from the Mississippi River 
to the Rocky Mountains ; occurs irregularly in fall east to the At- 
lantic Coast, from Nova Scotia to Maryland, and on the Pacific 
occurs in Alaska, Washington, California, and Lower California, 
and is said to be abundant in British Columbia. Recorded also 
from England and Walfish Bay, South Africa. 

An inland variety occurring throughout the 
interior in North America from the Mississippi 
Valley to the Rocky Mountains and south into 



Shore-bird Shooting 2>17 

Mexico and Central America. It frequents the 
shores of lakes and rivers, occurring generally in 
flocks of five or six, and is gentle and unsuspect- 
ing. Occasionally the bird is seen away from 
water and has been noticed at the summit of 
Mount Evans in Colorado, an altitude of 14,000 
feet. The Arctic regions of North America and 
Alaska are its breeding-grounds. The nest is a 
mere hollow in the grass, usually on dry ground ; 
and the female is a close sitter, using every arti- 
fice to distract the attention of the intruder from 
her eggs, running close in front and feigning 
wounded. On the Atlantic Coast this bird is rare, 
and formerly but few specimens were recorded, 
but are more common than originally supposed. 
The writer has found the birds near New Haven, 
Connecticut, repeatedly, usually early in October, 
and in two instances in company with red-backed 
sandpipers. 

LEAST SANDPIPER 

{Tringa niinutilla) 

Adult male and female in breedmg phwiage — Top of head, light 
grayish brown, or fulvous, thickly streaked with black ; back and 
scapulars, black ; feathers, bordered with rusty, the tips of some 
of the feathers often whitish; rump and middle upper tail- 
coverts, dark brown; lateral upper tail-coverts, white, with 
markings of gray ; middle tail feathers, dusky, with pale edges ; 
remainder, light gray, with white shafts ; wing-coverts, grayish 
brown, with dark centres and pale edges ; a light superciliary 
stripe; neck and jugulum, pale fulvous, streaked with dusky; 
throat and entire lower parts, white. 



378 The PVater-fowl Family 

Adult male and female in winter — Upper parts, dark brownish gray, 
the feathers with indistinct, dark centres ; superciliary stripe and 
lower parts, white ; jugulum, light ashy, indistinctly streaked ; 
otherwise similar to the summer plumage. 

Young — Similar to the summer plumage of the adult, but the scapu- 
lars without bars, and tipped with white ; wing-coverts, bordered 
with ochraceous ; jugulum, pale fulvous, slightly streaked ; iris, 
brown; bill, black; legs and feet, dusky. 

Downy youfig — Above, bright cinnamon-rufous mottled with black, 
many feathers tipped with white; line from bill through eye, 
blackish ; forehead, orbital region and lower parts, brownish 
white; spot of bright cinnamon-rufous on side of chest. 

Measjiremejits — Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.75 inches; culmen, .88 
inch ; tarsus, .75 inch ; middle toe, .60 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; light drab in color, thinly marked with 
brown spots; measure 1.15 by .85 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Sable Island, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Kene- 
watin, Assiniboia, and probably eastern British Columbia, north 
to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, at Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, 
and Franklin Bay, and probably in Cumberland and Greenland ; 
winters from the Bahamas, West Indies, Florida, Louisiana, 
and California, south to Brazil, Peru, and the Galapagos ; com- 
mon throughout the United States in migration, and occurs in 
Bermuda, and a few are found in summer in Jamaica, Florida, 
and Louisiana. Recorded from Siberia and Europe. 

Of all our shore-bird family this mite is the 
smallest and is widely scattered throughout North 
America, ranging from the Arctic Sea to Brazil, 
— passing through our domains on their spring 
and summer migration, in the interior and along 
the coast. 

The least sandpiper breeds in the Arctic regions 
as far south as Labrador and the islands in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, where it has been taken on 
the Magdalens, but the nest is seldom found. It 



Shore-bird Shooting 379 

is placed on the ground, nicely concealed in moss 
or grass, near water. The female, if disturbed, 
feigns wounded, endeavoring to distract the atten- 
tion of the intruder, and, if not frightened, re- 
turning almost at once to her nest. The downy 
young are pretty little fellows, mottled with black 
and bright rufous above, the down tipped with 
silvery white, and as they struggle among the 
grass stems remind one of so many large beetles. 
By July they care for themselves. Toward the 
middle and end of the month, flocks of least sand- 
pipers in company with the semipalmated sand- 
pipers, their close companions, and ring-necked 
plover appear along our coast. These birds con- 
gregating in vast numbers are universally known 
as "peep." Generally unmolested they are gentle 
and tame, allowing close approach, often coming 
up on to the blind itself if the occupant is still. 
While seen everywhere on the shore, this variety 
seems to prefer the scum-covered pools on the 
marshes, remaining after the other sandpipers 
have left to follow the falling tide. Here they 
feed on insects and animalculae which abound, 
generally in flocks, for they are sociable little 
chaps, when frightened taking wing and quickly 
closing together in a compact mass which too 
often attracts a shot from some wanton gun. The 
flight is speedy and graceful, the birds turning 
and wheeling at the same instant, so that now the 



380 The Water-fowl Family 

light strikes their breasts and there is a white 
gleam, another second, and the backs show dark. 
Their note is a soft peep and hence the name. It 
is heard when a few birds are in quest of a flock. 
I once saw a pigeon hawk in close pursuit of a 
least sandpiper, and within a few feet of its prey ; 
the little bird dodged it repeatedly, finally effect- 
ing its escape by joining a flock of larger birds. 
The young birds of the year follow the old, and 
all through August the least and semipalmated 
sandpipers remain with us, diminishing in num- 
bers toward the end of the month, the Bona- 
parte's sandpiper arriving in their stead. It is 
early May before we see them again. 

LONG-TOED STINT 
(Tringa damacensis) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, nape, 
back, and scapulars, black, tipped with chestnut ; wing-coverts, 
dark brown, with grayish edges ; rump and upper tail-coverts, 
black ; lateral coverts, white ; superciliary stripe, white ; loral 
stripe, sides of head, buff; throat, white; jugulum, buff, spotted 
with brown ; rest of under parts, pure white ; iris, dark brown ; 
bill, black ; feet and legs, yellowish green. 

Measiiremetits — Length, 5.50 inches; wing, 3.50 inches; culmen, 
.75 inch ; tarsus, .75 inch ; middle toe, with claw, .90 inch. 

Habitat — Eastern Asia, breeding in eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, the 
Kuril Islands, and probably the Commander Islands ; passes south 
in winter, through China and Japan, to India, Burma, the Malay 
Archipelago, and Australia ; accidental on Otter Island, Alaska. 

This bird is an Asiatic variety, its eastern range 
being marked by Japan and the Indian Archi- 



Shore-Mr d Shooting 381 

pelago, and has been admitted to the American 
Check-List, on account of its rare occurrence in 
Alaska, a single specimen having been taken on 
Otter Island in Bering Sea, June 8, 1885. 

On Bering Island it has been observed in 
large flocks in May, and feeds on the small crus- 
taceans which abound in the masses of seaweed 
lying on the beaches. A few breed there in a large 
swamp behind the town, and also in Kamchatka 
and part of northeastern Siberia, but the eggs are 
unknown. 

DUNLIN 

{Tringa alpind) 

Plumage — Similar to T. a. pacifica, but smaller, and less brightly 
colored in breeding plumage ; the pale markings of the upper 
parts are bufify, and the black abdomen is not strongly contrasted 
with the speckled breast. 

Downy young — Upper parts, black, spotted with rufous and white; 
forehead and sides of head buffy white ; dark line from bill 
above and below eye ; under parts grayish white. 

Measurements — Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 4.50 inches; culmen, 
1. 15 to 1.40 inches; tarsus, .85 to i inch; middle toe, .70 to 
.75 inch. 

Eggs — Four ; olive, buff, or pale greenish ; spotted or speckled with 
Vandyke brown and purplish gray; measure 1.30 inches by .95 
inch. 

Habitat — Breeds in Scotland and the islands north, occasionally 
England, Iceland, and probably Greenland, Denmark, Russia, 
eastern Turkestan, and Siberia, east to the Yenisei River, and 
north to latitude 74°, and has bred in Spain ; winters in Great 
Britain, Holland, and the Caspian Sea, south to the Canaries, 
northern Africa, Somaliland, possibly Zanzibar, and east to 
Calcutta; in North America has been recorded from west of 
Hudson Bay, Massachusetts, Long Island, New York, New 
Jersey (?), and WasliingtoUj p.C. ; alsQ taken in Spitzbergeu, 



382 The Water-fowl Family 

This European variety has been included 
among the American shore-birds because of its 
rarely straggling to the Alantic Coast of North 
America. The dunlin is among the best-known 
shore-birds of Europe, and much has been written 
about it. The breeding habits are interesting. 
Then the bird becomes very tame, and will 
often stay on her nest until closely approached. 
When flushed from the eggs, which lie on a few 
grasses in a dry place in the marsh, she some- 
times flutters away or leaves with a shrill cry, and 
then, joined by the male, flies about the disturber's 
head, uttering a gentle twitter. This bird breeds 
commonly in Scotland on the moorland and 
marshes, laying in May. 

RED-BACKED SANDPIPER, OR AMERICAN DUNLIN 
( Tringa alpina pacifica) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, back, 
scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, light rufous, streaked 
on the crown, spotted on the back, with black ; wing-coverts, 
brownish gray, broadly tipped with white ; remainder of head, 
neck, jugulum, and breast, grayish white, with dusky streaks ; 
abdomen, black ; sides, flanks, anal region, and lining of the 
wing, pure white, all slightly streaked. 

Adult male and fetnale in winter — Upper parts, plain ashy gray, 
marked occasionally with indistinct dusky streaks ; an indis- 
tinct superciliary stripe ; lower parts, white ; neck and jugulum, 
heavily clouded with gray. 

Young — Back and scapulars, black, feathers bordered broadly with 
rusty ; lesser and middle coverts, bordered with buff; rump pale 
brownish slate ; upper tail-coverts, darker ; top of head, rusty, 
streaked with black; head and neck, dull buff, streaked with 



Shore-bird Shooting 383 

dusky; throat and lower parts, white; the breast and belly, 
irregularly marked with black ; iris, dark brown ; bill and feet, 
black. 

Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, 
1.50 inches; tarsus, 1. 10 inches; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; color, pale green, spotted and blotched with 
dark brown ; measure 1 .43 by i inches. 

Habitat — Breeds probably in Greenland and from Hudson Bay 
to Davis Strait, Melville Peninsula, Point Barrow, Alaska, along 
the coast to the Yukon, and through eastern Siberia to the 
Yenisei River. Winters from New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas, 
and California, south at least to Nicaragua, and in Asia from 
China and Japan to the Malay Archipelago. 

The American red-backed sandpiper is closely 
allied to the European dunlin, the two varieties 
being almost indistinguishable, save for a slight 
difference in size, the American bird being some- 
what larger. This species is well known along 
both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and occurs 
to a less extent in the interior, having been found 
common in the neighborhood of the Salt Lake 
and portions of the Missouri and Mississippi 
valleys. In the fall the red-backed sandpiper 
is a regular migrant on the New England coast, 
arriving in small flocks. It is found on the sandy 
beaches, and I have often noticed them on the 
outer rocky islands and breakwaters. The birds 
are active and restless, feeding a few minutes in 
some spot, then taking wing and settling a short 
distance off. While flying the flocks bunch up and 
a single shot is often very destructive. Farther 
south their numbers increase, and about the 



384 The PVater-fowl Family 

Chesapeake they are very abundant, reaching 
Florida in late fall. On the spring migration the 
birds are common as far north as Virginia, but 
much rarer on Long Island and the New England 
coast than in the fall. I have seen them abun- 
dant in May at Cobb's Island, where flock after 
flock followed low down over the surf, lighting 
on the beach at the water's edge, and feeding 
frequently in company with the redbreast. On 
the flats they were never in as large numbers. 
The full spring plumage of the red-backed sand- 
piper is very unlike the fall, and in the two differ- 
ent attires the birds would scarcely be recognized 
as the same species. The bright red back and 
soft black breast are a pleasing combination. In 
this dress the flocks reach the breeding-grounds. 
These are in Alaska about the mouth of the 
Yukon, along the shores of Bering Sea, on 
the Melville Peninsula and the northern portions 
of the eastern Arctic regions. Early in June nest- 
ing is begun, and the birds become exceedingly 
active in their devotion to each other, the note 
at this time resembling the sounds of frogs in 
New England in early spring, and is heard every- 
where on the tundra. While mating, Mr. Nelson 
says, the males pursue the females through the 
air, uttering a musical trilling note which sounds 
like " the mellow tinkle of large water-drops falling 
rapidly into a partly filled vessel" Later, as his 



Shore-hird Shooting 385 

suit promises success, the inale, rising fifteen to 
twenty yards in the air, hovers over the female, 
pouring forth a perfect gush of music, and then 
sinks back to earth. But, later still, he gives up 
his singing and takes his turn in keeping the 
eggs from catching cold. The nest is on slightly 
elevated ground, and the eggs are placed on a 
little dried grass ; before August the young fly, 
and gather in flocks about the shore, remaining 
until late September, then leaving for more south- 
ern climes. This species is also known in various 
localities as winter snipe, leadback, fall snipe, 
brant snipe, and black-bellied sandpiper. 



CURLEW SANDPIPER 

( Tringa ferruginea) 

Adult male and female in breedmg plumage — Crown, back, and 
scapulars, rusty, streaked with black ; head, neck, breast, sides, 
and belly, deep chestnut ; anal region, upper and lower tail- 
coverts, white, spotted with black and tinged with rusty ; wing- 
coverts, brownish gray, tipped with white ; middle tail feathers, 
dark slate color ; rest of the tail, ashy gray, feathers bordered 
with white. 

Winter plumage — Upper parts, brownish gray, marked indistinctly 
with darker ; tail-coverts, upper and lower, white, spotted with 
black; superciliary stripe and lower parts, white, the jugulum 
faintly streaked with gray. 

Young — Back and scapulars, dusky black, feathers tipped with light 
brown and terminally with white ; lesser and middle wing-coverts, 
bordered with buff; upper tail-coverts, white; indistinct super- 
ciliary stripe and lower parts, white ; jugulum and sides of the 
head, tinged with buff; iris, brown ; bill, black at tip, blackish 
green at base ; feet and legs, light olive. 
2G 



386 The IVater-fowl Family 

Measurements — Length, 9 inches; wing,. 5 inches; culmen, 1.50 
inches; tarsus, 1. 12 inches; middle toe, .70 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; light greenish drab in color, with blotches 
of brown of various shades; measure 1.50 by 1.05 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds at the delta of the Yenisei River, Siberia, and 
doubtless other points on the Arctic Coast of Siberia, and a set 
of eggs ascribed to this species has been taken in Greenland. 
Winters in Africa, south to the Cape of Good Hope, India, the 
Malay Archipelago, and Australia, and occurs in migration from 
Great Britain to China and the Philippines. It occurs frequently 
in Greenland, and has been recorded from the West Indies and 
Patagonia. On the mainland of North America it has been 
recorded from Point Barrow, Alaska, Hudson Bay(?), Nova 
Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut (?), Long Island, 
New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Ontario. 

While common through the northern portions 
of Europe, the curlew sandpiper is hardly more 
than a straggler to the Atlantic Coast. It has 
been taken a number of times on Long Island, 
and there are a few instances of its occurrence in 
New England. In northern Greenland it is not 
uncommon, and breeds. A male of this species 
taken June 6, 1883, at Point Barrow, Alaska, 
is the only instance of its appearance on the 
Arctic or Pacific Coast of America. 

The first eggs of this species, of which the 
identification is beyond question, are a set of four, 
taken by Mr. H. L. Popham, at the delta of the 
Yenisei River, July 3, 1897. The female was 
flushed from the nest, seen to return to it, and 
shot when she ran away from it the third or 
fourth time. These eggs resemble those of the 



Shore-bird Shooting 387 

European snipe in color and measure about ij 
inches long by i inch broad. " The nest was a 
rather deep hollow in the reindeer-moss in an 
open space on a ridge of ground somewhat drier 
than the surrounding swampy tundra." As these 
eggs almost duplicate in size and color the set 
ascribed to this species procured by Governor 
Fencker in Greenland, it is probable that the 
latter was correctly identified. 

SPOON-BILL SANDPIPER 

(Ettrynorhynchus pygmceus) 

Adult male and female in sumtner — Bill, characteristic, black, longer 
than the head, flat, dilated considerably at the extremity in a 
rhomboidal shape ; head, neck, breast, and back, ferruginous, 
the feathers of the head, back of neck, and back, with dark 
brown centres ; those of the throat and breast slightly tipped 
with white ; under parts, from breast down, becoming white ; 
iris, brown; legs and feet, black. 

Adult male and female in winter — Upper parts, dusky brown, each 
feather edged with gray ; forehead, face, throat, and under parts, 
white ; tail, short, consists of twelve feathers, the two central 
ones longest and darkest. 

Young — Top of head, light gray, with black spots, feathers edged 
with rusty ; remainder of head, neck, and lower parts, dirty 
white, tinged with gray ; abdomen, white ; scapulars with black 
centres, dark gray beneath the surface, tipped with dirty white, 
margined with rusty ; wing, brownish gray, a white bar across 
the wing formed by the tips of the greater coverts. 

Measurements — Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.75 inches; tarsus, .90 
inch ; culmen, .90 inch ; width of bill near tip, .40 inch. 

Eggs — Undescribed. 

Habitat — Breeding range unknown, but supposed to be north- 
eastern Siberia, where it has been found in summer. Migrates 



388 The IVater-fowl Family 

through Japan and China to India and Burma in winter. A 
single specimen was taken on the Choris Peninsula, Alaska, in 
1849. 

Perhaps the rarest of our shore-birds, the 
spoon-bill sandpiper has seldom been taken, and 
little is known of its habits. It is most com- 
mon, probably, on the Arctic Coast of Asia, and 
may follow the coast of China to India. Nelson 
secured a specimen of this bird in summer plu- 
mage, in 1 88 1, at Plover Bay, Siberia. It was 
standing on the edge of a small pool, on a spit 
near the harbor entrance. A specimen in my own 
collection bears a Japanese label, and I have seen 
the bird on Japanese price-lists. 

According to Nelson, Nordenskjold found this 
species so common at Tapkan, on the Arctic Coast 
of Siberia, in June, that they were served twice 
on the gun-room table of his ship. A number of 
specimens have been collected in India in winter, 
and in spring and fall in China and Japan. 
Little is known of this bird's habits, and its eggs 
have never been taken. 

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER 

(^Ereunetes pusilhcs) 

Adult male and female m breeding plutnage — Upper surface, light 
gray-brown, occasionally tinged with pale cinnamon ; head and 
dorsal region, heavily spotted with black ; wing-coverts, pale 
brown, edged with white ; primaries, dark brown, edged with 
black ; rump, black ; upper tail-coverts, blackish brown ; a dusky 
loral stripe ; superciliary stripe and throat, pure white ; breast, 



Shore-bird Shooting 389 

gray, striped with brown ; rest of under parts, white ; iris, brown ; 
bill, feet, and legs, black ; feet, slightly palmated. This always 
distinguishes them from the least sandpiper. 

Adult in wittier — Similar to the summer plumage, but the breast 
and lower parts are white, only slightly tinged with gray. 

Voting — Similar to the summer adult plumage, but breast is tinged 
with pale grayish buff and is without well-defined streaks or 
spots ; scapulars are bordered with white ; the brown on the 
upper parts is usually lighter. 

Downy young — Crown, chestnut ; rest of upper parts, fulvous brown, 
spotted with black and white ; forehead, whitish ; black line in 
centre of forehead and on lores ; throat, fulvous white ; rest of 
lower parts, white. 

Measuretnetits — Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.75 inches; culmen of 
male, .68 to .75 inch, of female, .80 to .95 inch (Ridgeway) ; 
tarsus, .85 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; ground color, a light gray, thickly spotted 
with reddish and dark sepia, chiefly on the larger end ; measure 
1.20 by .85 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Labrador and Hudson Bay to the Arctic 
Coast at the Anderson River, and along the coast to Kotzebue 
Sound, Alaska, and possibly south in the interior to Assiniboia, 
and a set of eggs believed to belong to this species has been 
taken in Connecticut. Winters from the Bahamas and the 
West Indies, possibly Florida and Texas, to Central America, 
Brazil, and Patagonia. Abundant in North America east of the 
Rocky Mountains in migration, and in British Columbia east 
of the Cascades ; occurs also on the coast of California and Brit- 
ish Columbia, and has been taken on the Pribilof Islands and 
Bermuda, and occurs in Florida in summer. Accidental in 
Europe. 

With the least sandpiper this bird comprises 
the flocks of peep found along the eastern coast 
— now in many of the former haunts about all 
that is left of the shore-bird family. Arriving on 
our shores toward the end of July, they swarm 



390 The PVater-fowl Family 

about the beaches, feeding at the water's edge, 
often rising in a cloud, showing now white, now 
dark, as the birds in unison turn breasts or backs 
to the light. This species is less of a marsh bird 
than its associate, the least sandpiper, and prefers 
the sandy, muddy flats, left bare by a falling tide. 
In places where thick eel-grass is exposed at low 
water, they often congregate on the surface, giving 
the appearance a short distance off of walking 
on the water. Early to come and early to go, 
most of the peep are southward bound before the 
middle of August, following our coast to the West 
Indies and South America, where they winter, to 
return in May along the same courses. They 
breed in the regions about the shores of the 
Arctic Sea, from Labrador to Alaska. The nest 
has been found in the Barren Grounds and on the 
islands. It is placed on the grass or moss, and 
incubation is established in June. The young 
fly in July. While this bird is found chiefly in 
the eastern portions of North America, in the 
West giving place to the western variety, it is 
abundant along the Mississippi Valley and in 
Texas, and is said to be common in Alaska. The 
semipalmated sandpiper with the least, in locali- 
ties, goes by the name of ox-eye. Like the other 
small sandpipers it is friendly and unsuspicious 
and will continue feeding within a few feet of an 
observer, if he refrains from sudden movements. 



Shore-bird Shooting 391 

WESTERN SANDPIPER 

{Ereunetes occidentalis) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Very similar to E. 
pusillus, but with top of head and upper parts more marked 
with brown ; the cinnamon along the sides of the crown is some- 
times nearly uniform ; a white superciliary stripe, bordered below 
by a stripe of light rufous from the bill, beneath the eyes, to the 
ear-coverts ; remainder of the head, white, streaked, except on 
the throat, with dusky ; lower parts, pure white ; jugulum and 
breast, thickly marked with streaks of dusky ; iris, brown ; bill, 
feet, and legs, black. 

Adidt in winter, ajtd young — Not distinguishable in winter from 
E. pusillus. In these plumages distinction can only be made 
from the greater length of bill. 

Downy young — Similar to E. ptisillus, but with rusty prevailing on 
upper parts. 

Measurements — Length, 6.75 inches; wing, 3.75 inches; culmen 
of male, .85 to .95 inch, of female, i to 1.15 inches (Ridge- 
way) ; tarsus, .90 inch. 

Eggs — Similar in color and measurements to E. pusilhis. 

Habitat — Breeds at the mouth of the Yukon, Alaska, along the 
coast to Kotzebue Sound, and is said to be an abundant resident 
in British Columbia. Winters on the Atlantic Coast from North 
Carolina to Florida, probably in the West Indies, and occurs in 
Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela to Peru. In migra- 
tions abundant on the Pacific Coast of North America, occurring 
on the Aleutian and Queen Charlotte islands ; tolerably common 
in the interior east to the Rocky Mountains, and in Texas, and 
on the Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts south. 

Almost exactly similar to the semipalmated 
sandpiper, but with slightly larger bill. This 
bird is common along the western coast and also 
in the interior. It is sometimes taken on the 
eastern coast in company with the flocks of peep. 
In the spring the western sandpiper is abundant 



392 The IVater-fowl Family 

on the shores of Bering Sea and the coast and 
islands of Alaska about the mouth of the Yukon. 
They arrive here in May, and toward the end of 
the month breed near the pools about the shore. 
The note at this time is almost musical, and the 
mated birds are devoted to each other. The 
courting of this species is much the same pretty 
performance as that of the red-backed sandpiper, 
the same author tells us, and also describes how 
the male, to show his best to his wished-for mate, 
trailing his wings, elevating and partly spreading 
his tail, struts before her " like a pygmy turkey- 
cock." The nest is placed on elevated ground, 
on the moss, or grassy hummock, and the female 
watches faithfully her eggs. The young are 
hatched in June, and by late September the flocks 
have passed on to the southern shores. 

SANDERLING 

(jCaladris arenarid) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head and 
neck, back and scapulars, have the centre of the feathers black, 
edged with rufous brown and grayish white, the latter color pre- 
dominating; wing-coverts, ashy brown, tipped with rufous or 
gray; greater coverts, edged with white, forming a broad bar 
across the wing ; primaries, dark brown ; rump, dark brown, 
feathers edged with grayish white or rufous brown ; middle tail- 
coverts, black, margined with rufous ; lateral tail-coverts, white, 
with occasional black streaks ; tail, grayish brown ; sides of head, 
throat, neck, and breast, light rufous, streaked and speckled with 
black ; rest of under parts, white. 



Shore-bird Shooting 393 

Adult male and female in winter — Above, pale gray, the centre of 
the feathers black ; on the rump, the centre of the feathers a 
light brown ; under parts, pure white. 

Young — Upper parts, gray, spotted with black and white, sometimes 
a buff tinge, the white or the buff being noticeable on the tips 
of the feathers; jugulum, white, faintly tinged with buff; re- 
mainder of under parts, white ; iris, brown ; bill and feet, black. 

Measiir erne fits — Length, 8 inches ; wing, 5 inches ; culmen, i inch ; 
tarsus, I inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; color, brownish olive marked with faint 
brown spots; measure 1.44 by .95 inches. 

Habitat — In North America breeds from the Barren Grounds, near 
the Arctic Coast at Franklin Bay, north to Grinnell Land and 
northern Greenland, and possibly south to Hudson Bay. Win- 
ters from Virginia, occasionally Massachusetts, Bermuda, West 
Indies, Texas, and southern California, south to Chili and Pata- 
gonia, sometimes occurring in Venezuela by July 7, and in Bolivia 
in August. In the migrations it is common on the Atlantic 
Coast of the United States ; rather rare in the interior, except 
on the Great Lakes, and on the Pacific Coast north of California. 
In the eastern hemisphere it has been found in summer in north- 
ern Siberia, Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Iceland, but 
the eggs have not been taken. Winters from the Mediterranean 
to South Africa, the north shore of the Indian Ocean to Burma 
and the Malay Archipelago, in China and Japan, and in many 
islands of the oceans, including Hawaii. 

One of the most widely distributed of the sand- 
piper family, the sanderling is found along the 
shores of North and South America, and pretty 
much throughout the eastern hemisphere. Its 
favorite haunts are the ocean beaches, at the very 
edge of the foamy swash, where a receding wave 
leaves bare and wet the sand and sand-flies 
are flooded from their holes. Here the sander- 
ling dodges the rough water in quest of food, 



394 The IVater-fowl Family 

running just in front of the wave ; if startled, 
circling out over the breakers, to turn in and feed 
again farther down the beach. We often see 
them on the sand-bars of bays and lagoons, gath- 
ered in large flocks, and ready to take wing at 
any provocation. On the mud flats they are less 
common, and marshes seldom attract. Early 
August is the time to look for sanderling. The 
birds are short sojourners, and generally by the 
middle of the month are gone, to be followed a 
little later by the young birds, the first of which 
arrive by the end of the month and remain into 
September. Their plumage is different from the 
adult, and has a soft, attractive appearance, — the 
snowy white of the breast and the gray and black 
markings of the back affording a pleasing com- 
bination. The young are very tame, and, though 
small, are killed regularly along the coast. In 
the spring, early May finds the sanderling along 
our shores in more limited numbers than in the 
fall, but still in many localities abundant. 

The breeding plumage varies considerably, from 
a white on the breast to a rich, reddish brown, 
mottled and speckled with dark, a handsome dress. 
By June, far beyond our reach, in the seclusion of 
the Arctic regions, they breed, and in a short six 
weeks are ready to leave their young and begin 
the long trip south. The nest has not frequently 
been taken. One, and the first, found by MacFar- 



Shore-bird Shooting 395 

lane, near the Arctic Sea, was on the ground, con- 
structed of grass and decayed leaves, in a little 
hollow. A nest described by Fielding was situ- 
ated on a gravel ridge, several hundred feet above 
the sea-level, on a small depression in a recum- 
bent Arctic willow. 

Other names for this bird are beach bird and 
ruddy plover. 

MARBLED GODWIT 

{Limosa fedod) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Head and neck, pale 
buff, with black streaks ; these are broadest and most numerous 
on the top of the head and neck ; upper parts, entire, and scapu- 
lars, reddish bufF, irregularly barred with black ; rump and upper 
tail-coverts, buff, barred with dark brown ; tail, reddish barred 
irregularly with brown ; a broad superciliary stripe of white ; a 
loral stripe of dark brown ; throat, white or buff; entire under 
parts, pale rufous or buiT, the color varying in intensity in dif- 
ferent individuals, transversely crossed with wavy dark lines, 
except the centre of the abdomen and anal region, which is 
plain; under wing-coverts, reddish buff; bill, long, curved up- 
ward, both mandibles grooved ; dull flesh color at its base, 
with the terminal half dark brown ; feet, bluish gray ; iris, brown. 

Adidt male and female in wittter — Resemble the spring plumage, 
but the buff is paler and more indistinct. 

Voting — Resemble adults, but are more finely mottled above; entire 
lower parts, pale rufous, becoming buff on throat, not barred, 
sparingly streaked with dusky on lower neck. 

Measurements — Length, i8 inches ; wing, 9 inches ; tail, 3.50 inches ; 
bill, 4.50 inches ; tarsus, 3 inches. 

Eggs — Three to four in number; color, pale greenish drab, spotted 
and blotched with yellowish and olive-brown ; measure 2.27 by 
1.60 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Ohio (?), Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and 
Minnesota, possibly Lower California, to Manitoba, Saskatche- 



39^ The IVater-fowl Family 

wan, and British Columbia east of the Cascades, and probably 
Hudson Bay and Alaska, as a young bird has been taken at Point 
Barrow in August. Winters from southern California, Lower 
California, Louisiana, Florida, and the West Indies, to Central 
America, and recorded in Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina. Rare 
migrant through eastern North America, chiefly in fall, but re- 
corded from Newfoundland to Florida. 

Formerly common and well known through 
temperate North America, the great marbled god- 
wit and the long-billed curlew probably show the 
evidence of a relentless persecution more than any 
others of our shore-birds. In places where flocks 
of thousands were no uncommon sight, now these 
birds are rare. Along the coasts of our South- 
ern states, especially Florida, the great marbled 
godwit wintered in vast numbers, frequenting the 
marshes and flats, gathering on the sandy islands 
offshore to rest. Like the long-billed curlew, the 
birds show a peculiar devotion to their wounded, 
circling around them, uttering cries of distress, 
and exposing their ranks to shot after shot. The 
note is a clear whistle and the godwit readily 
answers the call, though when feeding on the open 
marshes it is wild and shy. On the New Eng- 
land coast and Long Island this species has never 
been common, and is at the present time only a 
straggler. During the past summer (1902) three 
were taken on Cape Cod. I have known of a few 
shot on Long Island in the past two years. In 
the Western states, particularly on the plains, this 



Shore-bird Shooting 397 

bird is still found, and is not uncommon on the 
prairie watercourses of Montana and Dakota, 
south into Texas. The flocks are usually small 
and on the wing, marked by a characteristic, 
undulating flight, — the birds, under these circum- 
stances, seldom uttering any note. The flesh 
generally is excellent. May is the time for the 
appearance of the spring flight, and numbers 
breed as far north as the fur countries, but more 
commonly within our own boundaries than was 
originally supposed, nests having been found in 
Iowa and in parts of the Missouri River regions. 
In May, 1901, I saw a pair of these birds on one 
of the large marshy lakes near Chihuahua, Mexico. 
They were among a number of teal and avocet, 
and kept on the grass near the flat, remaining 
after the others had taken wing, and allowed an 
easy approach. On the Pacific Coast the marbled 
godwit is found in numbers in southern Califor- 
nia, and may breed here, the young having been 
noticed in July. The various names for this 
species are red curlew, straight-billed curlew, and 
marlin. 

PACIFIC GODWIT 
{Limosa lapponica bauert) 

Adult male in breeding plumage — Top of head, dusky black, streaked 
with buff; neck posteriorly, buff, streaked with dusky; back and 
scapulars, dusky, irregularly mottled with light rufous ; rump, 
dusky gray, feathers faintly bordered with white; upper tail- 
coverts, white, the feathers with triangular spots of dusky in the 



398 The Heater-fowl Family 

centre, tipped with white ; tail, gray, the feathers barred irregu- 
larly with white on inner webs ; a stripe extending from the bill 
over the eye, cheeks, throat, and entire under parts, reddish 
buff; belly, white; under tail-coverts, white, transversely marked 
with dusky ; iris, brown ; bill, flesh color at base, blackish brown 
on terminal half; legs and feet, bluish gray. 

Adult female in breeding plmnage — Similar to the male, but the 
under surface is paler and more mixed with white, and the 
measurements average larger. 

Adult male and female in winter — ^Top of head, back of neck, and 
upper parts, brownish gray, lightest on head and neck ; centre 
of the feathers, dark ; under parts, ash-brown on throat and 
neck, white on breast and abdomen ; flanks, faintly barred. 
The plumage shows wide variations. 

Measurements — Length, 16 inches ; wing, 8.75 inches ; culmen, 3.50 
inches ; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Eggs — Two in number ; greenish drab, with irregular blotches of 
pale brown; measure 2.25 by 1.42 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, and western Alaska 
from the mouth of the Yukon to Kotzebue Sound and probably 
Point Barrow, and possibly on the Aleutians. Winters in the 
Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceanica. 
Occurs in migrations on the Pribilof, Aleutian, and Commander 
islands, Hawaii, China, Japan, and the Philippines, and acci- 
dentally in Lower California. 

A summer resident of Alaska, this bird is 
hardly more than a straggler to the Pacific Coast 
of the United States, having been taken in Lower 
California. It is found along the shores of east- 
ern Asia, and on various of the Pacific islands, 
south to Australia. The Pacific godwit, in breed- 
ing plumage, is a showy bird and the largest of 
the waders in the regions it frequents. Nelson 
describes it as reaching St. Michael in flocks of 
from twenty to two hundred, separating toward 



Shore-bird Shooting 399 

the middle of May into pairs, and seeking the 
open country to breed. The males carry on a 
very vociferous courtship, uttering continually a 
loud kii-wew^ and occasionally a rolling whistle, 
resembling that of the Bartramian sandpiper. 
The nest is placed in the sedge grass on the 
ground, and contains usually two eggs. Numbers 
of the birds breed in comparatively small territory, 
and if this is disturbed, resent the intrusion with 
wild commotion, circling about and uttering cries 
of distress. The young are hatched in June and 
fly in July, all leaving at the approach of fall. 
On the Pribilof Islands the birds disappear in 
May and return late in August. Marshes near 
the shore and the adjacent flats are their resorts, 
and here they feed on small shellfish and animal- 
cule. The flesh is excellent. 

The bar-tailed godwit, of which this bird is a 
subspecies, with habits probably identical, nests 
on the tundra in the northern part of Siberia. 
The nest is very difficult to find, as the female 
sits close, her back exactly resembling the sur- 
rounding ground, and the nest itself is merely a 
slight hollow lined with a few grasses somewhere 
on the great waste of rolling tundra. The male, 
on the other hand, assails the intruder, when he 
is half a mile from the nest, with violent scream- 
ing, and stays with him until he leaves the place. 
The note is said to sound like koo-wak. 



400 The Water-fowl Family 



HUDSONIAN GODWIT 

{Limosa hcetnastica) 

Adult male — Top of head, neck, upper parts, blackish brown, irregu- 
larly spotted and barred with ochraceous, the rump plain 
brownish black; upper tail-coverts, white; wing-coverts, plain 
dark gray ; primaries, dark brown, with white shafts ; lower 
parts, chestnut-brown, marked with bars of dark brown, the 
feathers of the belly tipped with white ; tail, black, with base 
and tip of white ; wings underneath and axillars, black. 

Adult female in breeding plumage — Similar to male, but paler on 
breast, the feathers here more mixed with white; averages 
larger. 

Adult male and female in winter — Above, pale dull brownish gray ; 
under parts, white ; breast shaded with dark gray. 

Young — Resembles the winter plumage, but each feather of the 
dorsal region marked with a subterminal dusky crescent, and a 
narrower terminal one of ochraceous ; under parts, pale drab ; 
abdomen, white, and jugulum, gray ; bill, grayish yellow, dark 
brown along the ridge of the upper mandible and toward the 
tips of both ; iris, brown ; feet, slate color. 

Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 8.25 inches; tail, 3.50 
inches ; culmen, 3 inches ; tarsus, 2.40 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; dark drab in color, larger end stained and 
spotted with dark umber; measure 2.15 by 1.40 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the lower Anderson River in Arctic America, 
and probably east near the shores of the Arctic to Cumberland, 
and possibly west to Point Barrow and south to Hudson Bay. 
Winters in Argentina, Patagonia, south to Straits of Magellan, 
and on the Falkland Islands. In the migrations through the 
United States not found west of North and South Dakota, Ne- 
braska, Kansas, and Louisiana ; most common on the Atlantic 
Coast in fall and the Mississippi Valley in spring, occurring also 
in western Cuba, and on the Yukon and Cook Inlet, Alaska. 
Flocks of this species are said to appear in Argentina in April 
and stay until September, and these birds, some believe, breed 
in Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. One taken in Ber- 
muda. 



Shore-bird Shooting 401 

The Hudsonian godwit is rather an uncom- 
mon bird, probably at no time abundant on the 
Atlantic Coast of the United States. It is now 
a rare straggler, and in the haunts famous for 
shore-birds along our shores an odd one is only 
occasionally taken. This species is known by the 
gunners in some localities as spotted rump, spotted 
marlin, or ring-tailed marlin. 

One of the market gunners on Cape Cod told 
me during the gunning season he usually killed 
one or two of these birds. On Long Island I 
have heard the same story. Those specimens 
I have known of in these places have been adults 
in immature plumage, taken early in August. 
The young bird would not appear before the 
middle of September. Farther north on the 
Atlantic Coast the Hudsonian godwit is a regular 
summer migrant, congregating in large numbers 
on the shores of Hudson Bay and Labrador, pre- 
paratory to the start south. I have seen these 
birds on some of the islands in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence in large flocks. They arrive late in 
July, the first comers being steadily augmented 
by new arrivals until by the first week of August 
their greatest abundance has been reached. From 
this time on the numbers rapidly decrease, and by 
the last of the month only odd birds are seen. 
The young appear about the middle of Septem- 
ber and until October i are common in the 



2D 



402 The IVater-fowl Family 

same locations. On the adjacent mainland and the 
shores farther south the birds are seldom met with, 
and then only as odd stragglers. Where they stop 
next and what their course is. on departing is a 
mystery. Probably they keep well out to the 
open sea, and along with the golden plover wisely 
skip the United States in the fall flight south. 

On the islands where these birds congregate 
they frequent the large open lagoons where the 
low tide leaves exposed miles of sand-bars. Here 
they follow the water's edge and wade in up to 
the full length of their long legs, feeding on ani- 
malculas and small larvae for which their bill is 
peculiarly adapted, having the same flexible tip as 
that of the Wilson's snipe. With the rising 
water, first the small sandpipers, then the larger 
birds, are driven from the flats ; last of all the god- 
wit. They start in flocks of from ten to twenty 
and keep well in the centre of the lagoon, flying 
over the flooded flats, avoiding carefully all land, 
even the farthest points and islands. 

The long black lines of birds undulating in 
their flight can readily be distinguished from any 
other shore-bird. They have a very dark appear- 
ance. In a short half-hour the last flocks have 
passed and there is no further flight until the 
next tide. At high water they congregate on 
the upper beaches, well out of reach of any dis- 
turber. For a long time it was impossible to 



Shore-bird Shooting 403 

arrange a blind in the range of the flight, but 
finally by piling up heaps of seaweed and staking 
them down far out in the shallow water, we 
managed to kill a small number. They quickly 
learned the danger, however, and would keep on 
their course just out of reach. 

Late in September the young birds are more 
readily shot, as they frequently come on to the 
marshes. The godwit is a silent bird, and I have 
seldom heard a note. The flesh is excellent, per- 
haps the best of all the shore-birds. On its 
spring migration the Hudsonian godwit is found 
through various parts of the interior of the United 
States; here it passes up the Mississippi Valley 
with the golden plover and they are killed in 
some numbers in the Western states in May, 
where they find their way occasionally into the 
markets ; but the birds waste little time en route 
and are generally in poor condition. The breed- 
ing-ground is in the far Barren Lands of the Arc- 
tic regions. June is the incubation time ; the nest 
is a mere depression on the ground containing 
three or four eggs. 

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 

{Limosa limosa) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Head, neck, and 
jugulum, cinnamon, the head streaked and the jugulum barred 
with dusky ; remaining lower parts, white, with dusky bars on 
breast and sides ; back and scapulars, mixed with black, cinna- 



404 The IVater-fowl Family 

mon, and gray ; wing-coverts, brownish gray, greater coverts 
tipped with white, forming a conspicuous patch ; rump, long 
upper tail-coverts, and most of the tail, dusky ; upper tail-coverts 
and base of the tail, white ; axillars and lining of the wing, white. 

Female — Less highly colored than the male and larger. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Upper parts, dark 
brownish gray, lightest on the head and neck ; jugulum, pale 
gray ; other lower parts, white ; otherwise as in summer. 

Young — Head, dull brown, feathers edged with rufous, an indistinct 
light buff line passing from the base of the bill beyond the eye ; 
neck, dark buff; back, brown, with an occasional darker feather ; 
all the feathers tipped with rufous ; greater wing-coverts, dull 
gray, tipped with white ; middle coverts, brown, tipped with 
buff; sides of head, neck, and breast, buff; bill, blackish brown, 
orange at base; legs and feet, black; iris, brown. 

Downy young — Rusty yellow ; spotted above, especially on crown 
and rump, with black ; line through eye, cheeks, and belly, pale 
yellowish. 

Measurements — Length, 15.75 inches; wing, 8 inches; culmen, 
4.25 inches ; tarsus, 2.80 inches. 

Eggs — Three to four in number, light olive-brown in color, blotched 
with darker brown; measure 2.17 by 1.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Iceland, in Europe from Holland to Scandinavia, 
Russia, and western Siberia, north to the Arctic circle. Winters 
from Spain and the coast of the Mediterranean sometimes south 
to Abyssinia and Madeira, occurring in Great Britain in migra- 
tion. One taken near Godthaab, Greenland, about 1830. 

The black-tailed godwit belongs to the Old 
World, frequenting the northern parts of the 
European continent, migrating south in winter 
to Africa. Its occasional occurrence in Green- 
land has caused it to be included in the American 
Check-List. 

In the desolate marshes found in some parts 
of north central Europe, this species carries on 



Shore-bird Shooting 405 

the duties of nidification, laying its four dark 
eggs early in May, in a rather deep hollow lined 
with a few grasses, in some dry tussock. Some- 
times in such places colonies may be found, many 
pairs selecting the same locality to rear their 
young. Shy as a rule, at this season they lose all 
fear and attack man, cow, horse, or hawk, swoop- 
ing at the head of the invader with a loud ^yzz, 
tyii, and not losing courage, though many may 
be shot. The downy young, when only a day or 
so old, wander among the coarse grasses, calling 
plaintively when the rank growth hides them 
from one another. 

EUROPEAN GREENSHANK 

{Tot amis nebularius) 

Adult male and female in breeding phunage — Top of head, neck, 
scapulars, and back, gray, striped with black, margin of feathers, 
white ; wing-coverts, dark brown, edged with white ; primaries, 
blackish brown, with white shafts to first ; lower back, rump, 
and upper tail-coverts, white, with irregular bars of black on the 
tail-coverts ; central tail feathers, gray, with dusky bars ; the 
two next to central, barred with black ; others, pure white ; 
under parts, white ; neck and breast, streaked and spotted with 
black ; iris, brown ; bill, black ; legs and feet, olive-green. 

Adult male and feinale in winter phtmage — Above, pale ash-gray, 
feathers, tipped with white and with dark shaft streak; fore- 
head, white ; lores and centre of forehead, dusky ; under parts, 
pure white. 

Voting — Similar to adults in winter, but more tinged with rufous 
brown above, and feathers spotted with whitish brown ; central 
tail feathers, white, barred with black ; chest and sides of breast, 
streaked and spotted with dusky. 



4o6 The PVater-fowl Family 

Downy yoimg — Above, black and gray, tinged with reddish; fore- 
head, sides of head and entire under parts, white ; Una through 
eye, on forehead, and spot on crown, black. 

Measurements — Length, 14.50 inches; culm en, 2.25 inches; wing, 
7.50 inches; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

Eggs — Four ; pale yellowish green, spotted with dark brown and 
pale gray; measure 1.90 by 1.35 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Scotland, northern Europe, and northern 
Siberia. Winters on the coasts of the Mediterranean, through- 
out Africa to Cape Colony, in India, the Malay Archipelago, 
Australia, China, and Japan. In migration, ranges through- 
out the eastern hemisphere, from the Canary Islands to Norfolk 
Island and the Commander Islands, and has been recorded from 
Chili, Argentina, and Florida. 

The only reason for including this bird in the 
North American list is the single instance of its 
capture by Audubon, on Sand Key, near Cape 
Sable, Florida. Here three specimens were taken, 
May 28, 1832. They were all males, and were 
mistaken at the time for yellowlegs. 

This species has many of the habits of the 
greater yellowlegs, moving the head in the same 
manner when suspicious of danger, but seldom 
occurring in such large flocks. In the winter, in 
Egypt, single birds are occasionally seen standing 
on the banks of the Nile, or in small pools left 
on the sand-flats by the retreating waters, and 
even feeding quietly at the water's edge, amidst 
the roar of the First Cataract. They seem to 
have little fear of danger, and are easily ap- 
proached. In the breeding season the green- 
shank prefers woodland lakes and streams, laying 



Shore-bird Shooting 407 

its eggs on the ground, usually close to the shore, 
but sometimes taking an open spot in the woods 
some distance from water. The female sits close, 
and when the young are hatched both parents 
are very brave and noisy. 



GREATER YELLOWLEGS 
(Tot anus melanoleucus) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, neck, 
upper parts, slate-black, variegated with pale gray and white, 
the latter in the form of spots along the edge of the feathers, 
including the wing-coverts and tertials ; nape, grayish white, 
with dusky streaks ; upper tail-coverts, white, irregularly barred 
with dusky ; primaries, dark slate ; tail, white, all the feathers 
barred with dusky ; middle feathers, gray ; cheeks, ear-coverts, 
neck, breast, and sides, streaked and transversely spotted with 
dusky ; throat and abdomen, pure white. 

Adult male and fe?nale in winter plumage — Upper parts, light gray, 
without the black, but with the white spotting ; neck and jugu- 
lum, finely streaked with dusky ; bi'east and abdomen, white, 
the flanks irregularly marked with gray. 

Young — Similar to the winter dress, but darker, the white spotting 
tinged with buff ; bill, black; iris, brown; legs and feet, deep 
yellow. 

Measuretnents — Length, 13.75 inches; wing, 7.40 inches; culmen, 
2.20 inches; tarsus, 2.45 inches; middle toe, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; grayish white with dark brown spots, the 
brown in various shades; measure 1.75 by 1.30 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Anticosti and British Columbia, north to 
Labrador and Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River, rarely south to 
Illinois and Nebraska, and possibly Wyoming. Winters from 
the Bahamas, Florida, rarely North Carolina, Louisiana, British 
Columbia, and southern California, south to Argentina, Chili, and 
Patagonia, to the Straits of Magellan. In both Louisiana and 
Argentina it is found all the year, and has been thought to breed 



4o8 The PVater-fowl Family 

in Patagonia. It has been taken in Cumberland and Cook 
Inlet, Alaska. Common in migration throughout the United 
States, and occurs in Bermuda. 

The greater yellowlegs is one of our most 
widely distributed and well-known shore-birds, 
passing along both coasts and through the inte- 
rior on its spring and fall migrations. In early 
August we hear its mellow whistle on the marshes 
and flats of the eastern shore, a welcome sound, 
announcing the time for the first shore-bird shoot- 
ing is at hand, and he who loves this sport braves 
mosquitoes and goes early to the marsh. When 
migrating south, these birds fly in large flocks, 
often some distance offshore. On reaching the 
haunts along their course where they are in the 
habit of stopping to rest and feed, the large bands 
break up and the birds scatter over the marshes 
and flats, keeping by themselves or mingling with 
the numbers of big and little shore-birds that 
frequent the beaches. 

The greater yellowlegs is a sociable bird, and 
when alone usually makes its presence known 
by the shrill whistle which too often receives an 
answer from a gunner's blind. When coming to 
decoys, the birds set their wings, swooping among 
the stools; jumping up with a frightened yelp on 
seeing their mistake, they offer an easy chance. 
A short sojourn on good feeding-grounds quickly 
fattens them, but the flesh is not equal to that of 




GREATER YELLOWLEGS 



Shore-bird Shooting 409 

the small yellowlegs. Both varieties of this bird 
have the habit, when on the ground, of tilting 
the bodies if their attention is attracted. The 
adult birds are killed along our coast until late 
August, and are followed in September by the 
young. These are often preceded by heavy 
weather and wind. The first usually appear early 
in the month, and are found until late in October. 
They are easily called up within range and killed, 
often coming back repeatedly to their wounded 
until the whole flock is destroyed, or a single 
survivor wings his way convinced. Flocks of 
yellowlegs pass through the interior and follow 
the watercourses south, wintering over a wide 
area in South America, on the plains of the 
Argentine Republic, and Patagonia. In localities 
where they are not disturbed the birds quickly 
become gentle, and pay little heed to man; tip- 
ping their body in an inquisitive way, they watch 
him for a minute, then feed along the edge of the 
pond, rising when approached too close, to settle 
a short distance off and go through the same 
action. 

In Mexico, in May, 1901, we found them in 
sparing numbers on the ponds and mesa lakes, 
associating with the teal, sometimes with black- 
necked stilt, paying little heed to our presence. 
The return flight north is along the coasts, where 
they are regularly taken every spring, but in 



4IO The IVater-fowl Family 

rather small numbers, and the large body un- 
doubtedly pass through the interior, up the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, along with small yellowlegs and 
various other members of our shore-bird families. 
At this time they hurry along, spending but little 
time en route. 

On the marshes of Long Island and New Eng- 
land a few are seen late in April, but this date 
is early, and May is the most likely time for the 
appearance of those birds passing north along 
the coast. 

The breeding-ground is in the far North, but 
a few birds undoubtedly rarely nest within our 
boundaries. Incubation is begun in June, the 
birds selecting a marsh along some inland lake 
or perhaps close to the shore, laying their eggs 
in a slight depression on the ground. By late 
July the young are left to care for themselves. 



GRAY YELLOWLEGS 
{Tot anus melanoleucus frazari) 

Adult in breeding phmtage — Similar to T. jftelattoleucus, but slightly 
larger ; with broader white edgings to the feathers of the upper 
parts, especially the crown and nape ; the dark markings of the 
lower parts extending farther over the abdomen in the form of 
broad black bars, and the white chin invaded by small black 
dots. 

Adults and yotmg in winter — Similar to T. melanoleuats but " much 
grayer, the white streaks of the nape and top of head broader, 
the dark streaks of the jugulum, breast, and sides of neck and 
the dark bars on the sides fewer, finer, and fainter ; the sides of 



Shore-bird Shooting 411 

the head whiter, with less dark mottling; " the feathers of back 
broadly edged with ashy white. 

Measurements — (Averages of seven specimens), length, 14.20 inches ; 
wing, 7.65 inches; culmen, 2.25 inches; tarsus, 2.60 inches. 

Habitat — Undetermined ; probably breeds in western British Amer- 
ica and British Columbia, and passes chiefly through western 
United States to western South America in winter. Occurs in 
migration in Lower California, North Dakota, Massachusetts, 
South Carolina, and Florida. 

This race of the greater yellowlegs has been 
recently described by Mr. William Brewster 
(Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
at Harvard College, Vol. XLI, No. i, p. 65) from 
a series of over twenty birds in winter plumage 
that were collected in Lower California, by Mr. 
M. A. Frazar, in the fall of 1887. These birds, a 
number of which I have seen, thanks to the kind- 
ness of Mr. Brewster, all closely resemble the type, 
and are much grayer above, with much broader, 
whitish borders to the feathers, than greater 
yellowlegs from the Atlantic Coast. Mr. Brewster 
states that he has seen specimens of the gray 
yellowlegs from South Carolina and Florida, and 
refers to this form three young yellowlegs taken 
by the writer on Monomoy Island, Massachusetts, 
in September, 1894. In this I thoroughly agree, 
and identify also with it an adult taken there in 
September, 1892, and two adults which I collected 
in North Dakota in the spring of 1895. These 
birds differ noticeably in the manner described 
above from typical examples of T, melanoleucus 



412 The IVater-fowl Family 

in identical phases of plumage from the Atlantic 
Coast, so that there seems little doubt that frazari 
must be accepted as a valid subspecies. 

The exact range of this bird is as yet undeter- 
mined, but it will probably prove to breed west of 
Hudson Bay, and pass chiefly west of the Missis- 
sippi in migration. Intermediates occur in New 
England in spring. That the greater yellowlegs 
also occurs on the Pacific Coast is proven by one 
that Mr. Brewster has seen from British Columbia. 

LESSER YELLOWLEGS 
{Totanus flavipes) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head and 
neck, streaked with black on a grayish ground, and edged with 
white ; back and scapulars, dark ashy mixed with irregular 
blotches of black and white ; primaries, dark brown ; upper 
tail-coverts, pure white with transverse dusky bars ; tail, white, 
central feathers, gray, and all with transverse bars of ash ; lower 
parts, white; the jugulum and breast profusely streaked with 
dusky; the sides marked with transverse marks of the same 
color. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Upper parts, ashy gray, 
slightly variegated on scapulars and wing-coverts with transverse 
spots of dusky, the feathers margined with white ; streaks are 
almost absent from the head, neck, and jugulum, which are uni- 
form light gray, edged with white ; chin, throat, and under parts, 
white. 

Young — Resembles the winter plumage, but the light markings on 
the upper parts are more or less tinged with buff; bill, black; 
iris, brown ; legs and feet, yellow. 

Downy young — Upper parts and thighs, seal-brown; many of the 
feathers tipped with cream-buff; forehead, sides of head and 
gtj-^akg on rumpj buffy white \ Uoe§ on foreheadj and frQiii bill 



Shore-bird Shooting 413 

through eye to nape, seal-brown ; throat and abdomen, white ; 
rest of lower parts, buffy white. 

Measure7nents — Length, ii inches; wing, 6 inches; culmen, 1.50 
inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number ; light drab in color, with blotches and spots 
of brown; measure 1.68 by 1.12 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from northern Quebec, Kenewatin, and Assiniboia, 
and probably British Columbia, to the Arctic Coast of Alaska and 
the Barren Grounds, and has been reported breeding in western 
New York, Illinois, and in Chih. Winters from the West 
Indies, Florida, Louisiana, and southern California to Argen- 
tina, Chili, and Patagonia, and is reported in Louisiana, Argen- 
tina, and Chili through all the year. On the Atlantic Coast of 
the United States it is common in fall, but very rare in spring ; 
common at both seasons in the Mississippi Valley, and rare 
west of the Rocky Mountains south of British Columbia. It 
has been recorded from the Pribilof Islands, Greenland, and 
Great Britain, and occurs in Bermuda. 

A smaller edition of the greater yellowlegs, 
this bird is one of our best-known and widely dis- 
tributed shore-birds, occurring throughout North 
America, extending generally into South America 
as far as Patagonia. In the United States the 
lesser yellowlegs is a regular summer visitor to 
the marshes that line the Atlantic Coast; arriv- 
ing early in August, they are among the first of 
our shore-birds to start the procession south. On 
the coast in the salt-water marshes and meadows, 
where the grass is short, are their favorite haunts, 
and the clear note of a summer yellowleg is per- 
haps the first welcome sound in the early morn- 
ing heard from the blind on the marsh. Soon 
the birds are in evidence, and, if within hearing 



414 The IVater-fowl Family 

distance, can usually be called up to the decoys ; 
if permitted, they drop among the stool and gaze 
at the wooden snipe in blank surprise. After the 
first shot the flock often return, and, if skilfully 
whistled, hover over the wounded birds. The 
readiness with which they court destruction has 
resulted in their being driven from many of 
the old-time resorts, and this common, friendly 
bird may easily become rare. The young of the 
year migrate along the same course as the adults, 
but appear later, usually about the last week of 
August. For a short time after the first long 
flights the birds are in poor condition ; but they 
soon fatten on their favorite feeding-grounds, and 
the dainty flavor of the flesh is highly esteemed. 
In the summer the lesser yellowlegs pass along 
through the United States, in the interior as well 
as along the coast. The return flight, however, 
in the spring is made by the shortest route to the 
breeding-grounds, the birds following along the 
Mississippi Valley and the larger adjacent water- 
courses, north into the fur countries. These are 
reached in June, and here they scatter through the 
smaller lakes and rivers of the Arctic regions, 
breeding on the shores and marshes. The eggs 
are laid on the ground with hardly the formality 
of a nest. At this season the yellowlegs, after the 
custom of many other of our shore-birds, changes 
to a certain extent its ordinary habit, often perch- 



Shore-bird Shooting 415 

ing on trees and bushes, if there are such in the 
vicinity of the nest. The note is varied and both 
birds become very noisy, resenting with loud cries 
any approach near the nest. The young are 
hatched in July and rapidly attain the age of 
looking out for themselves, for by the end of the 
month the old birds leave them and gather in the 
first migratory flocks. 

COMMON REDSHANK 
(^Totanus totanus) 

Male and female in breeding pbcmage — Upper parts, grayish brown ; 
scapulars and interscapulars, spotted with black and notched 
with buff; lesser wing-coverts, edged with light gray; lower 
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, white, the last barred with 
black; crown, dark brown, feathers edged with buff; lores, 
blackish ; primaries, blackish brown, the inner feathers tipped 
with whitish, which is barred with brown ; outer secondaries, 
white ; inner secondaries, brown, mottled with white ; tail, 
white, barred with blackish, the central feathers chiefly brownish ; 
sides of head, neck, and entire under parts, white, spotted and 
barred with dusky, except in centre of abdomen ; bill, black, red 
near base ; feet, bright orange-red ; iris, brown. 

Male and female in winter — Similar, but upper parts, including 
wing-coverts and the inner secondaries, dark grayish brown ; 
dark markings on face and lower parts, fewer ; fore neck, chest, 
and sides of breast, uniform ashy brown ; bill, dark brown ; 
feet, yellow. 

Young — Similar to winter plumage of adults, but more spotted above, 
with reddish brown at the edges of the feathers, and white or 
fulvous markings on wing-coverts and inner secondaries ; fore 
neck and breast, irregularly spotted with brown. 

Downy young — Above, reddish, striped longitudinally with black 
through eye, centre of crown, nape, hind neck, and centre of 
back ; centre of crown, rufous ; sides of head and lines on back, 
buff. 



4i6 The PVater-fowl Family 

Measitre7nents — Length, 9.75 inches; wing, 6 inches; tail, 2.40 
inches; culmen, 1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.65 inches. 

Eggs — Four ; pyriform ; buff, spotted with dark brown and gray ; 
measure 1.75 by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, throughout Europe, 
northern Africa, Asia Minor, Turkestan, and Siberia, south of 
55°. Winters in Great Britain, northern Europe, throughout 
Africa, and southern Asia from India to China, Japan, the 
Philippines, and the Malay Archipelago. This species was 
recorded from Hudson Bay, in Swainson and Richardson's 
"Fauna Boreali-Americana," in 1831. 

The redshank is one of the commonest shore- 
birds, breeding in Great Britain, seeking the re- 
tired marshes for a summer home, and laying in 
April and May. The nest is carefully hidden 
in a tuft of grass, the grass stems often being 
drawn together over it, and the bird enters and 
leaves the nest on the side and walks away, so 
that hardly anything remains to show the location. 
The parents are very noisy when the nest is ap- 
proached and leave it long before any one draws 
near. When mating the male often soars in the 
air, making a trill, or bows and struts before his 
mate, spreading his wings and tail ; sometimes the 
bird goes through the latter performance walking 
a fence rail. 

SOLITARY SANDPIPER 

(^Helodromas soUtarius) 

Adult fftale and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, olive- 
slate, speckled slightly with white ; top of head and neck, 
streaked with white ; outer upper tail- coverts, barred with white ; 
primaries and CQverts, slate-black ; tail^ white, central feathers 



Shore-bird Shooting 417 

dusky, all the feathers crossed with dark bars ; eyelids, supra- 
loral stripe, and lower parts, white ; the sides of head, neck 
entire, and jugulum, streaked with brownish slate ; remaining 
lower parts, white ; lining of wing and axillars, slate, irregularly 
barred with white. 

Adult male and female in whiter plumage — Upper parts, dark ashy, 
less distinctly speckled ; neck, very indistinctly streaked with 
ashy, otherwise similar to breeding plumage. 

Young — Upper parts, grayish brown, thickly speckled with pale 
buff; crown and neck, plain brownish gray; cheeks and sides 
of neck, gray streaked with dusky ; bill, dusky ; iris, brown ; legs 
and feet, olive. 

Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 5.25 inches; culmen, 
1.25 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, i inch. 

Eggs — Not described. 

Habitat — Recorded in the breeding season in Louisiana, from the 
mountains of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, 
and Colorado, and from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, 
Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Kansas, north 
to northern Labrador, Hudson Bay, Fort Simpson, and Kotzebue 
Sound, Alaska. Winters from the West Indies south to Uruguay, 
Argentina, and Peru. Common in migrations about small bodies 
of water in the United States west to the Rocky Mountains, 
replaced beyond them, as a rule, by the western subspecies. 
Recorded from Bermuda, Lower California, British Columbia, 
Greenland, and Great Britain. 

Sometimes called the wood tattler, this dainty- 
sandpiper is most often found along the shores of 
our wooded lakes, — sometimes alone, usually in a 
small flock. We find them often at a high alti- 
tude in the mountains. Little mud-holes filled 
with old stumps and logs, the shores lined with 
dead wet leaves, are their favorite haunts. Here 
they run about from place to place, searching for 
little grubs and worms that such locations abound 

2S 



4i8 The IVater-fowl Family 

in. When startled, teetering the body as if to 
gaze at the intruder from all points of view, then 
darting through the air on graceful flight, they 
utter as they start a high-pitched, mournful note, 
and pass on over the tree-tops to some other pool, 
where no disturber interferes with their affairs. 
Sometimes on these ponds in the woods we come 
across a solitary sandpiper, quietly walking over 
the soft mud, unconscious of danger; silent and 
still as if affected by the solitude of the place, yet 
in the jaunty manner of its flight, changing its 
character and giving expression to the happiness 
of life. In the spring of the year, by early April, 
we find them in their solitary resorts tarrying 
awhile, then disappearing to breed and raise their 
young, no one knows where. 

The young birds appear in September and at 
this time rarely straggle out on the marshes and 
flats in company of other shore-birds. 

The solitary sandpiper undoubtedly breeds as 
far south as our northern boundary, and it is a 
strange fact there are no more satisfactory rec- 
ords of its nesting. The instance of a single Qgg, 
found at Lake Bombazine, Vermont, by Jenness 
Richardson, is questioned. This egg was seen by 
Mr. C. A. Sheldon, who was with Mr. Richardson 
at the time, and in his opinion the identification 
is doubtful. 

At its breeding-grounds this bird has a song 



Shore-bird Shooting 419 

flight resembling that of many other shore-birds. 
The male wheels high in air on rapidly beating 
wings, uttering often a weak song, and then 
alights on the top of some spruce. 

A set of five eggs ascribed to this species, the 
parent of which was seen closely but not secured, 
was taken on an island in Lake Ontario, June 
10, 1898. The eggs, averaging 1.32 inches long 
by .95 inch wide, had, when found, a dark reddish 
ground color with faint purple markings and 
grotesque brown figures, scattered over the shell, 
and were laid on the ground in a hilly field near 
the lake. 

WESTERN SOLITARY SANDPIPER 

(^Helodro7nas solitarius cinna7no7neus) 

Similar to the solitary sandpiper, but " larger, wings grayer, the light 
spots on the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, brownish cinna- 
mon instead of white or bufFy whitish ; the sides of the head 
with more whitish, especially on lores. No well-defined loral 
stripe." The outer primary is mottled with ashy white some 
distance beyond the tips of the under primary coverts, this 
marking seldom occurring in solitary sandpipers taken in the 
East. The differences in color are more pronounced in young 
birds in juvenile plumage. 

Habitat — Found in the breeding season from the interior of British 
Columbia, north to the upper Yukon in Alaska, and recorded in 
migrations from California and Lower California to Montana, 
North Dakota, and Arizona. The exact limits of the range of 
this subspecies are as yet doubtful, but in winter it probably 
ranges south to Peru. 

The habits of this bird are like those of the 
eastern subspecies. 



420 The iVater-fowl Family 

GREEN SANDPIPER 

{Helodrotnas ochropus) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Head and neck, striped 
with dark brown and white ; upper parts, ohve-brown, with white 
spots ; upper tail-coverts, pure white, middle feathers, barred 
with black toward tip ; chin, throat, and under parts, white, 
dusky streaks on fore neck and breast ; bill, dusky ; legs and 
feet, bluish gray, green at the joints. 

Adtdt male arid female in winter plumage — Head and neck, gray- 
ish brown, without spots, — these are also faint on the upper 
parts ; white superciliary stripe ; otherwise similar to breeding- 
plumage. 

Young — Similar to adult in winter ; but feathers of upper parts nar- 
rowly edged with ashy bronze. 

Downy young— Upper parts, grayish buff and rufous, spotted with 
black ; a broad black band extends from crown to rump, and 
narrow black stripes, from bill through eye to nape, on side of 
crown, and side of body ; lower parts, white. 

Measurements — Length, lo inches; wing, 5.25 inches; culmen, 
1.25 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 

Eggs — Four ; pyriform ; creamy white to greenish white, spotted with 
dark reddish brown and pale grayish brown; measure 1.50 by 
1. 10 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in the mountains of southern and central Europe, 
in Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia, south to Turkestan. Win- 
ters in southern Europe, central Africa, India, Malay Archi- 
pelago, China, and Japan. Has been recorded from Hudson 
Bay and Nova Scotia, in North America. 

In its habits in the winter in Egypt, the green 
sandpiper much resembles our soHtary sandpiper, 
never occurring in flocks, and frequenting the 
irrigation ditches and the muddy pools left by 
the retreating Nile. 

In the breeding season this species frequents 
retired ponds, surrounded by woodland, and breeds 



Shore-bird Shooting 421 

in May. The eggs are laid in the deserted nest 
of some jay, crow, or thrush, and at a height of 
from three to forty feet from the ground. 

WILLET 
{Symphemia seniipalmatd) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, light 
brownish gray ; head and neck, streaked with dusky ; back and 
wing-coverts, spotted and barred with blackish ; under parts, 
white, tinged with gray on the neck, with buff on the sides ; the 
sides with the jugulum and breast, spotted and barred with 
dusky ; upper tail-coverts, white ; tail, ash-gray, mottled with 
darker ; axillars and lining of wings, sooty black. 

Adtdt fnale atid female in winter plumage — Upper parts, ash-gray ; 
under parts, dull white. Neck, in front shaded with gray. 

Young — Upper parts, brownish gray, the feathers margined with 
buff; sides, tinged with the same color, and finely mottled with 
gray ; bill, gray, dusky at its end ; iris, brown ; feet, gray blue ; 
claws, black. 

Downy young — Upper parts, brownish gray, spotted with dusky; 
dusky lines on lores, and from eye to occiput and nape ; fore- 
head, sides of head, and lower parts, dull white. 

Meastirements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 7.35 inches; culmen, 
2.20 inches ; tarsus, 2.30 inches ; tail, 2.90 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; color, light gray, with fine dottings of 
dark bistre; measure 2 inches by 1.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Bahamas, and from Florida, north to New 
Jersey, and irregularly to Massachusetts and Michigan (?). 
Winters from Florida, rarely North Carolina, the Bahamas, and 
West Indies, south to Brazil. Formerly recorded on the Atlan- 
tic Coast, north to Newfoundland, but now, apparently, the 
majority of birds taken in the fall on the Atlantic Coast north of 
Virginia belong to the western subspecies. Has occurred in 
Bermuda and Europe. 

One of our best-known shore-birds, now 
separated into two forms, the eastern and the 



422 The IVafer-fowl Family 

western. While the western variety seems to 
average somewhat larger and has certain slight 
plumage differences, the two types grade into one 
another, and these distinctions are not always 
satisfactory. On the eastern coast the willet 
ranges from Nova Scotia to Florida and along the 
Gulf of Mexico, but is rare north of Massachusetts. 
It breeds throughout these limits sparingly, how- 
ever, north of Florida. In our Eastern states 
this species has been markedly decimated in the 
past few years, and not having the protection of 
the seclusion the far North affords to most of our 
shore-birds in their nesting time, it will presently 
be rare everywhere in the eastern United States. 
A few years ago willet bred commonly on the 
coast from Virginia to New Jersey. Now a few 
pairs are seen over an area formerly inhabited by 
hundreds. In 1898 I found several pairs at Cobb's 
Island, breeding on a small strip of marsh, just 
inside the ocean beach. When this was ap- 
proached the birds exhibited the greatest excite- 
ment flying within range and uttering shrill 
discordant cries. When on the wing it is grace- 
ful and speedy, the black and white mottling of 
the wings presenting a striking appearance. On 
alighting the bird runs a short distance, then 
watches intently the object of suspicion, leaving 
at the slightest provocation. The nest is com- 
posed of grass placed on the dry ground in the 




WILLETS 



Shore-bird Shooting 423 

salt marshes, sometimes built up to a height of a 
few inches. The eggs are always four in number. 
Incubation is begun late in May. The flesh of 
the willet has never been esteemed, but the 
eggs were regularly robbed by the natives, who 
considered them a delicacy. This destruction of 
the eggs in the old breeding localities undoubtedly 
goes far to explain the present scarcity of the bird. 
One of the gunners at Cobb's Island told me it 
was no uncommon thing in years gone by to fill a 
small basket with willet 's eggs. Crows occasionally 
invade the nesting territory, causing consternation 
and excitement, the birds all combining to drive 
off the intruders. The young are cared for with 
the greatest devotion ; few parents are more 
persistent in their attention. Late in July, full 
fledged, we see them sometimes in small flocks, 
or with gulls and other smaller birds, often alone. 
They feed on various aquatic insects and little 
shellfish and crabs. The young birds are not 
particularly wild, and, if by themselves, can fre- 
quently be coaxed within range by imitation of 
the note, a shrill pill-will-willet. It is rather 
exceptional for decoys to attract them, although at 
times they fly overhead. The plumage of the birds 
in the first year is a soft gray and white, having 
the same peculiar black and white wing markings 
as the adult. A few years ago numbers of young 
willet were shot regularly off Cape Cod in early 



424 The IVater-fowl Family 

August ; north of this point less often, increasing 
in abundance from Long Island south. Now a 
few odd birds are all that are seen. It is met 
with throughout the interior to the middle of the 
United States, and often on the marshes has the 
reputation of acting as sentinel for other birds in 
the vicinity, quickly sounding the alarm and 
starting the flock. In winter the willet is found 
on the larger West Indian Islands, south to 
Brazil. 

WESTERN WILLET 
{Symphemia semipahnata inornata) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Similar to S. semi- 
palmata, but the dark markings on tlie upper parts, fewer, finer, 
and fainter, on a paler ground ; those on the under parts, duller 
and more irregular ; middle tail feathers, white or faintly barred ; 
bill, longer and slenderer. 

Winter plumage and young — Similar in the two varieties. 

Measurements — Length, 15.25 inches; wing, 8.10 inches; tail, 
3.30 inches ; tarsus, 2.65 inches ; culmen, 2.65 inches. 

Eggs — Not distinguishable from the eastern variety. 

Habitat — Breeds from Louisiana and Texas north to Manitoba, 
Athabasca, and Alberta, and west to Oregon, Nevada (?), Utah, 
and Colorado. Winters on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and from 
Louisiana, Texas, and southern California, south into Mexico. 
In the fall migration occurs on the Atlantic Coast from New 
England south, and in British Columbia and California, and 
has been doubtfully recorded in summer from the Yukon Valley. 

This variety resembles the eastern bird, but 
is somewhat larger and generally can be dis- 
tinguished by its longer bill. The plumage 
differences are unreliable. The western willet is 



Shore-Mr d Shooting 425 

common in the western United States, Texas, and 
California. Along the west coast it is very nu- 
merous, and in locations is plentiful throughout 
the year. This bird is abundant on the prairie, 
frequenting the sloughs and small alkali lakes. 
In all of its habits it closely resembles the eastern 
species. In the breeding season if one approaches 
the nesting-place of a pair of these birds, — gen- 
erally some small slough on the prairie, — he is 
deafened by an unearthly clamor ; first one, then 
both birds, diving for his head and shrieking pill- 
willet until he decides to leave. 

WANDERING TATTLER 

{^Heteractitis incatius) 

Adult male and female in breeding phmiage — Upper parts, dark 
lead color ; primaries, dark brown, with white shafts ; superciliary- 
stripe, sides of face, white, finely streaked with dark gray; 
throat, white, spotted with dark gray ; rest of under parts, white, 
barred with plumbeous ; bill, dusky ; feet and legs, greenish 
yellow. 

Adult male and female in winter plumage — Upper parts, plumbe- 
ous ; lower parts, white, washed with plumbeous on sides and 
across jugulum. 

Young — Resembles the winter plumage, but secondaries, scapulars, 
and upper tail-coverts indistinctly margined with white, and the 
plumbeous of sides faintly inottled with white. 

Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 6.50 inches ; culmen, 1.50 
inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, i inch. 

Eggs — Not described. 

Habitat — Breeding range unknown, but a statement that it breeds 
commonly in British Columbia is probably a mistake. Occurs 
on the coast of Alaska, from Lynn Canal to Bering Straits, 
Kamchatka, northeastern Siberia, and the Aleutian, Pribilof, and 



426 The JVater-fowl Family 

Commander islands in migration, in late May and early June, 
and late July, August, and September. Ranges south on the 
Pacific Coast of North America, occurring as far inland as 
Hudson Bay and Crater Lake, Oregon ; and winters from 
Lower California south to the Galapagos, Hawaii, and islands 
of Oceanica, and is found on the Hawaiian Islands throughout 
the year. 

A bird of wide range, the wandering tattler 
traverses the Pacific Coast from the tropics to the 
Aleutian Islands and into the interior of Alaska, 
along the watercourses. It breeds on the Pacific 
islands within the Arctic circle, but the nest and 
eggs have not been found. Usually alone, this 
bird is sometimes seen in small flocks, and fre- 
quents the rocky shores, running gracefully at 
the edge of the water and feeding on the minute 
shellfish and animal life among the seaweed. It 
is gentle, and when approached runs ahead out 
of reach or flies a short distance, uttering a shrill 
note, then lighting to stop and gaze at its dis- 
turber. By September they leave for their winter 
homes, returning again in May to the snow and 
ice of the North. 

RUFF 

(Pavonce/la pugnaoc) 

Adult male in breeding phimage — Head, neck, and upper parts, 
chestnut, barred with black, or buff and gray, barred with black ; 
under parts, white with variations on jugulum and throat ; pri- 
maries, dark brown with greenish reflections ; inner webs, 
finely mottled ; outer three tail feathers, plain brown ; remainder, 
transversely barred ; sides of rump, white ; feathers of the neck, 



Shore-bird Shooting 427 

greatly developed into a ruff, the face covered with reddish 
papilla. In coloring, this ruff varies greatly from glossy black 
to white, with all shades of brown and buff and mixtures be- 
tween. The cape shows the same variation. In the winter 
plumage the male has no ruff. 

Adtilt female — Without the ruff, head completely feathered; plu- 
mage, banded transversely with black and buff or white ; abdo- 
men, generally white. 

Young — Upper parts, brownish black, feathers bordered with buff; 
crown, streaked with black; lower parts, white with a buff 
tinge anteriorly ; bill, brown ; iris, brown ; legs, yellow. 

Measurements — Length, lo to 12 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; cul- 
men, 1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.75 inches; middle toe, 1.25 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; greenish gray, spotted with brown, meas- 
ure 1.60 by 1. 10 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Great Britain, Holland, and the Danube 
River, east through Russia to central Siberia, and north to 
the Arctic Ocean. Winters throughout Africa and in India 
and Burma. Wanders east to the Commander Islands, 
Japan, and Borneo, and west to Spanish Guiana, Barbadoes, 
and eastern North America, where some fourteen specimens 
have been taken, in New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, 
New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, and 
Ontario. 



This species is the most remarkable of the 
Limicolee, not only from the long ruff of many 
colors, ranging from deep black to pure white, 
through many shades of chestnut, brown, and 
gray, often barred with darker shades, and the 
black glossed with violet or green, or spangled 
with white or gold, and the white barred with 
white or rufous, which is assumed by the male in 
the breeding season, but also for its polygamous 
habits, each male taking as many wives as he can 



428 The Water-fowl Family 

protect from his rivals. The ruffs " hill," that is, 
assemble in the early morning on some rising 
ground near a marsh where the reeves have de- 
cided to lay, and contend with each other like 
game-cocks, striking at each other with the beak, 
with head lowered, the bill horizontal, and the ruff 
extended and held before the breast as a shield. 
In former times the males were netted during 
these spring combats, a drop-net being set over 
the spot where they assembled, and a stuffed bird 
used as a decoy; by this means, it is said, every 
male about a marsh could be caught. The birds 
taken were fattened for market, eating greedily 
as soon as caught. By most submissive behavior, 
too, the ruff seeks to win the reeve, throwing him- 
self on the ground before her, every feather on 
his body standing and quivering ; but as soon as 
the eggs are laid he deserts his wives and families 
and joins other males in a renewal of the freedom 
of his bachelor existence. 

BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER 
{Bartramia longicaudd) 

Male and female in breeding phtmage — Top of head, back, and 
scapulars, dusky, the feathers, marked with brown and margined 
with buff; lores and space around eye, pale buff; rest of head 
and neck, bright buff, spotted with dark brown ; greater wing- 
coverts, brown, barred on inner web and bordered with white ; 
lesser wing-coverts, brown, barred with dusky and bordered 
with bright buff; primaries and secondaries, dark brown, barred 



Shore-Mr d Shooting 429 

on inner web, and secondaries tipped with white ; tertiaries, 
dark brown, barred with black and edged with buff: lower back, 
rump, and central upper tail-coverts, black ; lateral tail-coverts, 
black at base, then buff, barred with black and edged with 
white ; middle tail feathers slate-gray, barred with black, edged 
with white; the other tail feathers buff, edged with white, 
spotted with black, and with a subterminal bar of black; 
lower parts, buffy white, deepest on lower neck and breast, 
where spotted and irregularly barred with dark brown, these 
bars extending on sides ; bill, brownish black, yellowish at 
base; feet and legs, yellowish. 

Young — Similar, but buff everywhere deeper and approaching 
ochraceous buff on head, sides of neck, and outer edges of 
tertials and upper wing-coverts. 

Downy young — Upper parts, grayish white, irregularly spotted with 
black ; dusky spots on lores, auriculars, cheeks, and flanks ; 
lower parts, buffy white. 

Measureiiients — Length, 12 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; culmen, 1.25 
inches ; tansus, 2 inches. 

E^s — Three or four ; clay color, spotted with brown and purplish 
gray; measure 1.75 by 1.25 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Kansas, and Colorado, north to Maine, Ontario, the 
Barren Grounds, Saskatchewan, Athabasca, and probably the 
Yukon Valley to Fort Yukon, west to the Rocky Mountains, 
Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and probably Utah. Winters rarely in 
Florida and Louisiana, and south through South America to 
Uruguay, Argentina, and Chili. In the migrations occurs chiefly 
between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, but also to 
the entire Atlantic Coast, north to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 
and Quebec, the Bermudas and West Indies, and west to 
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, New Mexico, and Arizona. 
Rare in the northeastern part of its range. Has been recorded 
frequently from Great Britain and Europe, and once from 
Australia. 

This species is fully described in the " Upland 
Game-Birds " volume of this library. 



430 The Heater-fowl Family 

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER 

{Tryngites subruficollis) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, dull 
ochraceous with a tinge of gray, each feather with a spot of 
black ; often there is a glossy greenish tinge on the back ; 
under parts, pale fawn color, palest on the abdomen and sides, 
many of the feathers tipped with white ; axillary feathers, 
white ; middle tail feathers, brown ; outer feathers, lighter, with 
transverse Unes of black on the terminal half, tipped with white ; 
under primary coverts, marbled with black ; bill, greenish black ; 
legs, greenish yellow ; iris, brown. 

Young — Similar, but the upper parts have the black and fawn color 
less sharply contrasted, and each feather is bordered with white ; 
the marbling on the inner webs of primaries and on under- 
coverts, more minute than in the adult. 

Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; culmen, .75 
inch; tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; ground color, ashy drab, blotched, and 
streaked with spots of dark sepia; measure 1.50 by i.io inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Barren Grounds and the Arctic Coast east 
of the Anderson River, and at Point Barrow, Alaska, and prob- 
ably in northeastern Siberia ; is reported a resident in British 
Columbia, and is said to have nested in Ontario, — this last 
doubtless a mistake. Winters in South America to Uruguay 
and Peru, and is said to winter on the coast of Louisiana. In 
migrations in the United States, tolerably common in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and in the fall occasionally east to the Atlantic 
Coast from Nova Scotia to South Carolina ; to the west of the 
Mississippi states unrecorded, except in Texas and from Wash- 
ington north to the Yukon, Alaska. Stragglers have occurred 
in the West Indies, Bermuda, Sea of Okhotsk, and frequently 
in western Europe. 

While this species has a general distribution, 
it is more common in the interior than on the 
coast. The buff-breasted sandpiper closely re- 
sembles the upland plover in appearance, and to 



Shore-bird Shooting 431 

a certain extent in habits. A specimen was once 
given to me by a Long Island gunner, who called 
it a young upland plover, and said he usually 
killed several during the season. On the Atlan- 
tic Coast the bird is rare, and usually occurs by 
itself, or in company with pectoral sandpipers, 
exceptionally in flocks. On the shores of the 
Canadian provinces it is still more uncommon, 
but has been taken near Halifax and Pictou and 
is recorded from Prince Edward's Island. In sev- 
eral years' experience with the shore shooting on 
the Magdalen Islands, I know of only one instance 
of its capture ; this was in early September, and 
the bird was shot among a large flock of pectoral 
sandpipers. In the New England states it is of 
irregular occurrence, and is usually taken in late 
August or September. Throughout the prairie 
states the buff-breast is common, arriving in flocks 
in August, and is found on the shores and flats 
of the alkali lakes, often frequenting the fields and 
plains. The birds are gentle and easily shot, 
though in this country would hardly be disturbed 
as game. They pass south through Texas and 
the southwestern states into Mexico, wintering in 
various parts of South America and visiting at 
times the West Indies. The migration north is 
in May, over the plains to the Arctic regions, 
where the nest has been taken in Alaska, the 
Anderson River regions, and the Barren Grounds. 



432 The IVater-fowl Family 

This is on the ground and lined with dried grass, 
resembling that of the golden plover. During 
the breeding season the birds are active and 
demonstrative, pursuing each other closely, often 
towering to some height in the air. 

The strange actions of the males during the 
breeding season at Point Barrow are described 
by Murdoch as follows : " A favorite trick is to 
walk along with one wing stretched to its fullest 
extent and held high in the air. I have frequently 
seen solitary birds doing this for their own amuse- 
ment, when they had no spectators of their own 
kind. Two would occasionally meet and 'spar' 
like fighting cocks for a few minutes and then 
rise together like 'towering' birds, with legs 
hanging loose for about thirty feet, then drifting 
off to leeward. A single bird will sometimes 
stretch himself up to his full height, spread his 
wings forward, and puff out his throat, making a 
sort of clucking noise, while one or two others 
stand by and apparently admire him. They are 
very silent, even during the breeding season." 

The young are hatched rather late in July, and 
by August all have gone. 

SPOTTED SANDPIPER 

{Actitis macularid) 

Adult male and female in breedittg plumage — Entire upper parts, 
lustrous ashy green, irregularly spotted with black, the lustre 
less noticeable on the neck ; a white stripe over the eye ; 



S bore-bird Shooting 433 

entire under parts, white, with numerous black markings, small 
on the throat and large spots on the breast ; primaries, dark 
bi-own, white on basal portion ; tail, marked with a subterminal 
blackish bar ; outer feathers, with dusky and white transverse 
spots, tipped with white, except central pair. 

Young — Above, ashy green, with narrow transverse black bars 
most numerous on the wing-coverts, feathers, edged with buff; 
under parts, white, the jugulum suffused with gray ; bill, edge 
of maxilla, and mandible, yellow, remainder dusky ; legs and 
feet, grayish olive ; iris, brown. 

Downy young — Upper parts, yellowish gray, finely speckled with 
blackish ; a black line from forehead to rump, and another from 
bill through eye to nape ; forehead, sides of head, and lower 
parts, white. 

Measurements — Length, 7.75; wing, 4 inches; culmen, i inch; 
tarsus, I inch ; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, drab with dark dots and 
blotches; measures 1.21 by .95 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, 
New Mexico, Arizona, and California, north to Sable Island, 
northern Labrador, Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie Delta, and 
northwestern Alaska, most abundantly in the northern and 
eastern part of its range ; and is said to be a resident in 
Jamaica, Grenada, and Costa Rica, and to breed in the last. 
Winters from the Bermudas, Bahamas, and West Indies, 
Louisiana, and California, south to southern Brazil and Ecua- 
dor. Has been taken frequently in Great Britain and once in 
Heligoland. 



The spotted sandpiper is widely distributed 
and common throughout the United States and 
Canada. In summer its note is one of the familiar 
sounds on all our interior lakes and rivers, calling 
attention to the sprightly form balancing on a 
log or rock, bowing its head to you and almost 
the same moment tipping up the tail, as, uttering 



434 The Water-fowl Family 

a shrill peetweet, the bird takes flight and with 
quick, stiff beats of its wings moves on to some 
old stump and goes through the same perform- 
ance. At this time they have the responsibility 
of a brood, and there are few more anxious parents. 
If the young are threatened, their excitement be- 
comes intense ; the old birds keep close by, now 
running along just in front as if wounded, the 
next minute alighting almost at your feet, utter- 
ing all the time their plaintive cry. The female 
has been observed in the act of carrying one of the 
young between her thighs while in flight. The 
young birds hide so well it is difflcult to find them, 
and if necessary have no hesitation in taking to the 
water, where they swim and dive with the skill of 
a duckling. Late in the summer we find them 
in little flocks of from six to eight, the families 
probably keeping together. They frequent the 
marshes and often the beaches alongshore. At 
this time the birds are fat and, while not especially 
desirable for the table, are shot in some numbers 
with other small peep. 

By the middle of August they are southward 
bound, while some of the young birds linger later; 
in the northern United States we see them no 
more until early in the following spring, when 
some bright morning in April they turn up, soon 
frequenting locations where later they will nest. 
May is their breeding time, and some ploughed 



Shore-bird Shooting 435 

field or dry, short marsh, perhaps a stubble, affords 
the spot. They lay four eggs on the ground so 
closely like the surroundings that it is almost 
impossible to see them. At this time the birds 
frequent the fields, perching on the fences, and 
the usual note becomes varied almost into a song, 
bright and cheery like all around when May is at 
its height. This species, from its wide distribu- 
tion and sociable, familiar habits, goes by a variety 
of names, such as tilt-up or peetweet, and teeter. 

LONG-BILLED CURLEW 

{Ntimenms longirostris) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, pale 
rufous, tinged with gray, each feather marked with transverse 
bands of black, most numerous on the back and scapulars ; 
feathers of head, striped with black ; under wing-coverts and 
axillars, bright rufous ; under parts, pale rufous, and streaks of 
black on neck and sides ; bill, black, becoming light brown on 
the base of the mandible ; legs and feet, gray ; iris, brown. 
Other plumages are similar but vary in the rufous color, which 
in some instances is pale and worn. 

Downy young — BufFy yellow, becoming sulphur-yellow on abdo- 
men ; upper part irregularly spotted with black ; bill, straight, 
1.40 inches in length. 

Measurements — Length, 25 inches; wing, 10.50 inches; tail, 4 
inches; tarsus, 2.50 inches; culmen, 6 to 8.50 inches in the 
adult. 

Eggs — Three or four in number ; ground color, grayish white or buff, 
spotted and blotched with umber; measure 2.80 by 1.85 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Texas, western Missouri, Colorado, Utah, 
Nevada, northeastern California, and probably Arizona, north 
to eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Assiniboia, and western 
Manitoba, and probably on the coast of Louisiana and southern 
Florida. Winters in western California, Lower California^ and 



43^ The PVater-fowl Family 

from southern Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, south to Cuba, 
Jamaica, and Mexico to Guatemala. Bred formerly as far east 
as Ohio, and on the Atlantic Coast, north to southern New 
Jersey, wintering in North Carolina, and was a common mi- 
grant north, at least, to Massachusetts ; now a straggler in 
North America east of the Mississippi and north of Florida. 
Has been recorded from Newfoundland, Labrador, Alaska, and 
southwestern British Columbia. 

The long-billed curlew is a bird of the past, 
now threatened with extinction. Formerly com- 
mon along the Atlantic Coast, particularly in the 
Southern states, the flocks have been utterly 
destroyed, so that at the present time the old 
haunts of the East hardly see this bird as a strag- 
gler. Twenty years ago the sicklebill, as this 
species is commonly called, was abundant in the 
late fall off Virginia and North Carolina; now it 
is practically unknown. In Florida, where great 
numbers wintered, it is rare. When the long- 
billed curlew frequented the favorite resorts of 
the South in thousands, the extensive marshes 
near the coast were the feeding-grounds, the birds 
flying to the sandy islands offshore to roost and 
spend the night. At low tide the curlew resorted 
to the bars exposed by the falling water, having 
special spots they favored. In a number of in- 
stances these places still bear their names, although 
they have not seen a flock of sicklebill in years. 
Near Cobb's Island, Virginia, there is a high-water 
flat, a famous old-time spot for these birds. It' 



Shore-bird Shooting 437 

still goes by the name of curlew bar. Now, an 
occasional yellowlegs and plover patronize it, or 
a dowitcher, but never a curlew, — not even the 
Hudsonian, which is common everywhere around. 
While under ordinary circumstances a wild bird, 
the long-billed curlew has a peculiar fondness for 
its own ; and the devotion of the flock to the fallen 
and wounded has undoubtedly been a prominent 
factor in its destruction, the birds answering the 
cries of those on the ground and circling again and 
again. Throughout the wilder parts of the West 
this species is still found, breeding in parts of 
Dakota and Montana, and ranging along thfe 
plains into Texas, southern California, and Mexico. 
In parts of Texas large numbers are still seen. 
A flock of thousands was reported from southern 
Texas in 1899. In Mexico in May, 1901, I saw 
these birds occasionally in flocks of ten or fifteen. 
They were on the high mesas at an altitude of 
about 7000 feet, usually in the vicinity of rolling 
hills, and kept to the short, dry grass, feeding on 
grasshoppers and other insects. Occasionally the 
Hudsonian curlew mingled with them. Earlier 
in the spring at Tampico, I saw a few sicklebill 
about the lagoon, in one instance on the outer 
beach. This bird undoubtedly breeds over a large 
part of its range. Captain Bendire found nests in 
eastern Oregon in wet meadows; it generally util- 
izes for this purpose the high, dry prairies, con- 



43^ The IVater-fowl Family 

structing a rough nest of grass, and laying three 
or four eggs ; the male always watchful, darting at 
the intruder with loud screaming, while the female 
lies close. In 1896, while hunting near Ashcroft, 
British Columbia, I saw several pairs of these birds 
on the high hills, and was told they regularly bred. 
The young fly in early August, and when fed on 
the insects and berries of the interior are excellent 
eating, while along the shore the flesh has rather 
a fishy flavor. The long bill is well adapted for 
picking up the little shellfish and minute crabs 
on the flats. This species is the largest of our 
waders, and its former liberal distribution gave it 
a variety of names, such as Spanish curlew, buz- 
zard curlew, hen-curlew, smoker, saberbill, and 
mowyer. 

EUROPEAN CURLEW 

{Numenius arquahis) 

Male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, brown, the 
feathers with longitudinal black centres and notched with ashy 
or rufous ; wing-coverts, dark brown, edged and marked with 
whitish ; primary-coverts and primaries, blackish, glossed with 
bottle-green ; the primaries and secondaries, notched or barred 
with brown, buff, or white ; lower back, rump, and upper tail- 
coverts, white, the back and rump, spotted, the tail-coverts, 
barred with black ; tail, white, often tinged with buff and crossed 
by nine or ten bars of dark brown ; head, dark brown, the 
feathers, edged with sandy buff; a white line bordered with 
black over eye ; sides of face, neck, and chest, ashy or sandy 
buff, streaked with dark brown ; chin, upper throat, and thighs, 
white ; breast, abdomen, sides, and under tail-coverts, white, 
streaked with dark brown ; bill, fleshy brown, darker at tip ; 
feet, dusky ; iris, brown. 



Shore-bird S booting 439 

Adult in -winter — Similar, but less heavily striped, especially on 
under parts. 

Young — Like adults but more tawny, and the light markings of 
inner secondaries, tawny buflf. 

Measurements — Length, 21 to 24 inches ; wing, 11.50 inches ; tail, 
5 inches ; culmen, 4.25 to 6 inches ; tarsus, 3 inches. 

Eggs — Three or four ; light greenish to olive-brown, spotted with 
olive-brown, umber-brown, and purplish; measure 2.75 by 1.80 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Great Britain, and from Holland and southern 
Russia to the White Sea and the Ural Mountains, and possibly 
in the south of France. Winters in Great Britain and through- 
out Africa, from the Mediterranean to Cape Colony. In migra- 
tion has occurred in Iceland, the Azores, and Persia. There is 
strong evidence to show that a mounted specimen of this species, 
in the New York State Museum, was prepared by a New York 
taxidermist, and shot on Long Island, New York, in 1853. 
This is the only claim of the European curlew to an American 
registry. 

In the wild moorland found in parts of the 
British Islands, scattered pairs of this curlew 
make small hollows among the moss and heather, 
line them with a little grass and moss, and de- 
posit their eggs in them late in April. Then the 
male stands motionless on some near-by hillock 
and whistles to the female if any one approaches. 
She at once runs some distance, then flies 
rapidly, and returns high in air after making a 
wide circle, uttering her plaintive cry. High on 
the hills and often far from water, they spend the 
summer, not returning to the shore until the 
young are fledged. 



440 The PVater-fowl Family 



HUDSONIAN CURLEW 

{Niunenms hudsonicus) 

Adult male and fejnale in breeding plumage — Top of head, sooty 
brown, divided longitudinally by a stripe of buff. A narrow 
dusky stripe from bill to the eye over the ear-coverts, separated 
from the crown by a superciliary stripe of buff; rest of head, 
neck, lower parts, light buff; neck, jugulum, and breast, streaked 
with dark brown ; axillars, buff, barred with brown ; upper parts, 
spotted with buff and dark brown ; bill, black, yellowish at base 
of mandible ; legs and feet, grayish brown. Other plumages, 
closely similar. 

Measureme?tts — Length, 17 inches; wing, 9.50 inches; culmen, 
3.50 inches ; tarsus, 2.25 inches. 

E^s — Three to four in number; ground color, drab with large 
brown spots; measure 2.40 by 1.55 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from St. Michael and Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, 
to the Barren Grounds near the Anderson River, and probably 
east to Greenland, where it has been taken, and south to Hud- 
son Bay. Winters from the West Indies, Louisiana, and 
Lower California, south to the Galapagos Islands, Chih, and 
Patagonia. In migrations, most common on the Atlantic Coast 
of North America, and rare in the western interior south of 
Athabasca. Accidental in Spain, and occurs in Bermuda. 

The commonest and most widely distributed of 
our curlews, this bird passes from the Arctic 
regions through South America to Patagonia. 
In North America frequenting both coasts and 
the interior. The shores of the Atlantic, how- 
ever, seem to be its favorite range. The Hud- 
sonian curlew arrives on the islands of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence early in August, increasing 
steadily in numbers until late in the month. 
They are found in the fields where grasshoppers 



Shore-bird Shooting 441 

abound, and have a special fondness for blueberry 
patches ; following the falling tide until the fur- 
thermost bars are exposed, and flying on to the 
dunes with the turning water. Here in localities 
where berries abound, they congregate in vast 
flocks. The flight usually is in range of land, and 
when the birds have been undisturbed the course 
taken by the successive flocks is generally the same. 
As the line of birds first comes into view, low 
down and directly toward you, now almost in 
range, there are few pleasanter moments in shore- 
bird shooting. They sheer a little from the place 
of concealment, when a well-timed whistle brings 
them within shot. For a short while the birds 
come thick and fast in flocks of from ten to fifty, 
then less often, and finally only an occasional be- 
lated bird is seen. A few days' shooting in such 
a location drives them away. On the flats and 
marshes they come to decoys but in small num- 
bers. 

Curlew have the habit of repairing to some 
particular spot to spend the night, often congre- 
gating together in vast numbers. One of these 
roosts was a small, high island a mile or so from 
shore. On this the birds gathered in hundreds, 
the first flocks coming late in the afternoon. Na- 
tives in some instances have killed over a hundred 
birds here in a short time ; but one day's shoot- 
ing is all, then they desert the place. From the 



442 The IVater-fowl Family 

islands in the gulf, the curlew scatter along the 
coast, working their way south, tarrying where 
marshes and flats afford feeding-grounds. For- 
merly Cape Cod and Long Island were regular 
stopping-places, but now the large majority keep 
on their flight offshore until further south. The 
marshes of the Virginia and North Carolina coast 
are the haunts of many, and we find them here by 
the middle of August, leaving in September. The 
young birds follow the adults on the same line of 
migration, but from three weeks to a month later. 
These birds are more liable to pass along our 
shores than the old ones ; they are also seen in 
larger flocks. The curlew's whistle is shrill and 
clear, and often announces its presence some time 
before coming into view. If answered from a 
blind the bird generally replies and circles about 
the decoys within range, but the fast flight often 
saves it. 

While the flesh of this species is good, and 
the young birds are excellent, it does not stand in 
quite the high repute for the table that some of 
the smaller shore-birds enjoy. The Hudsonian 
curlew winters over a vast territory, — in Mexico 
and Central America, through South America, 
frequenting the pampas of Brazil and Patagonia. 
The migration north is through the interior of 
the United States, but more along the Atlantic 
Coast. The birds appear off North Carolina and 



Shore-bird Shooting 443 

Virginia late in March and here tarry until large 
numbers have congregated. The latter part of 
April marks their departure. Between this point 
and the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they 
are not seen in the same vast flocks. Early in 
April, 1899, while at Cobb's Island, there were 
several days of high tides, and one afternoon when 
a perigee tide was at its height and the marshes 
all inundated, there was a continuous flight of 
curlew from the late afternoon into evening, and 
after dark we could hear them passing overhead. 
I have never seen as many birds of any one 
kind as on this occasion. Evidently the flocks 
for miles to the south had been driven from their 
resting-places at night by the flood. May finds 
them well on their way to their breeding-grounds, 
and by the last of the month many have reached 
their summer home in the remote Arctic regions. 
Here they nest and raise their young, choosing 
the wild barrens and placing the nest on the 
ground, lining it scantily with leaves and grass. 
In Alaska this is simply a slight hollow in the 
moss, and while one bird is on the eggs, the 
other, seated on a twig of some dwarf willow, acts 
as sentinel, giving a loud whistle when an intruder 
appears. Then both birds fly toward the ap- 
proaching danger, wheeling restlessly around and 
whistling repeatedly. 

The eggs are hatched in late June, and by the 



444 The Water-fowl Family 

last of July the old birds have pushed on, leaving 
the young to Nature's care, knowing she will turn 
them in the same flight south. 

ESKIMO CURLEW 
{Numenius borealis) 

Adult male and female — Top of head, dusky, streaked with buff, 
and without central light stripe ; rest of head, neck, and lower 
parts, light buff; cheeks and neck, streaked, the breast, sides, 
flanks with V-shaped markings of brown ; axillars and lining of 
wing, pale cinnamon, the axillars barred with dusky ; upper parts, 
spotted dusky and buiT; the wing-coverts, grayish brown, with 
dusky streaks ; rump and upper tail-coverts, dusky and light 
buff; tail, gray, with brownish bars; bill, black; iris, brown; 
legs and feet, greenish brown. Other plumages similar. 

Measurements — Length, 13.50 inches; wing, 8 inches; culmen, 3 
inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; ground color, olive-drab, with irregular 
blotches of dark sepia; measure 2.10 by 1.80 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds on the Barren Grounds from the Anderson River 
east, probably in Cumberland and Greenland, and possibly in 
Alaska. Winters from Louisiana ( ?) and the West Indies, 
throughout South America to Cape Horn, but chiefly on the 
plains of Argentina and Patagonia. Formerly an abundant 
migrant through the western Mississippi Valley, and tolerably 
common on the Atlantic Coast in fall ; rare between the coast 
and the Mississippi, and not reported from ferther west than 
Texas, except once from California ; now migrating through the 
Mississippi Valley in greatly reduced numbers, and very rare on 
the Atlantic Coast. Has been reported in the migration from 
northeastern Siberia, St. Michael, and the Pribilof Islands, 
Alaska, the Galapagos and Falkland Islands, Bermuda, and 
Great Britain. 

An uncertain bird, the Eskimo curlew is not 
common on the eastern coast of the United 



Shore-bird Shooting 445 

States, and apparently for no good reason. About 
the Labrador shores this curlew until recently 
has been abundant, congregating in large flocks, 
sometimes of thousands, gathering on the hills 
along the coast, and feeding on grasshoppers and 
various berries, particularly a small black variety 
which grows on a low shrub and goes by the 
name of curlew berry. When looking for a place 
to feed, the flocks keep a short distance from the 
ground on graceful wing, now high over the grass, 
now with a swoop disappearing only to reappear 
and sail on. Presently the birds settle, and if ap- 
proached, so exactly resemble the grass that they are 
difficult to see on the ground ; and unless the spot 
is well marked, they may rise unexpectedly, when 
a clear, low whistle announces their departure. 
From the Labrador coast the Eskimo curlew pass 
out to sea, and we know little of their course. 
On the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence they 
occur in small numbers ; rarely a storm-driven or 
belated flock is seen. South, along the coast, 
their presence is still more irregular, marked gen- 
erally by a persistence of easterly winds and foggy 
weather. On the Magdalen Islands, except in a 
single instance, I have never seen these birds 
abundant. This occurred in early September, 
1890; we had sailed to the eastern end of the 
islands for a few days' duck-shooting. One or 
two foggy days preceded our arrival, and heavy 



446 The IVater-fowl Family 

weather prevented us from quite reaching the 
destination. The shelter of a native shanty was 
thankfully accepted. It proved to be an instance, 
though, of " into the fire," for the house was flea 
infested, and but little better than the storm out- 
side. At the first sign of morning I left the place 
with the idea of climbing a high bluff just beyond. 
It was a straight cliff some two hundred feet high, 
rising from the edge of the bay, and tapering off 
into low hills from the summit. Long before 
reaching the top I could hear curlew whistling, 
and soon a flock passed by in sight ; after circling 
about the steep slope they settled in the grass. 
In a few minutes a small bunch of birds came 
within range, and at the report of the gun a per- 
fect cloud of curlew rose, breaking up into small 
flocks as they filled the air. To my surprise the 
birds were mostly Eskimo curlew. It was a ques- 
tion only of a short time before the last cartridge 
had been spent, and the shooting had been so 
rapid there had been no chance to pick up the 
dead birds ; of these about two-thirds were Eski- 
mos. Later in the morning we started out with 
powder and shot enough to last, but the curlew 
had gone, not a single one was left; and though 
repeatedly this hill was visited, we never after- 
ward saw anything there but a few Hudsonian 
curlew. Toward the end of September the 
Eskimo curlew is regularly found as a straggler 



Shore-bird Shooting 447 

among the flocks of Hudsonian, at the Magdalens, 
but I have never seen them in a flock by them- 
selves, with this exception. Farther south they 
are uncommon, and off Massachusetts only occa- 
sionally come in with the flocks of golden plover, 
after heavy easterly weather, late in August or 
early September. The young birds are taken 
well into October under the same circumstances. 
On the southern coast their occurrence is similar, 
and the large bodies spend but little time on land 
between the shores of Labrador and the Pampas 
of the Argentine and Patagonia. In September 
and October they are found through the interior 
on the prairie, and in the spring the migration is 
apparently almost entirely through the western 
United States, along the same course as the 
golden plover. About the middle of May the 
birds literally covered the prairie in places, and 
were shipped to the markets in barrels. In the 
last few years the numbers have decreased re- 
markably, both on the breeding-grounds and 
along the lines of their spring flight. The Barren 
Grounds of the eastern Arctic regions and north- 
ern Labrador are the nesting-places, and these are 
reached in early June. The eggs are placed in a 
slight depression on a few dead leaves or a little 
grass, and are very difficult to find on account of 
their resemblance to the surroundings, the bird 
quietly leaving at the approach of danger. The 



44^ TJje PVater-fowl Family 

young are hatched late in the month and run at 
once, quickly hiding in the grass if threatened. 

The Eskimo curlew show the same concern for 
their wounded noticed in other members of the 
family, and the flock often exposes itself to turn 
and circle over the fallen. Few birds are held in 
higher esteem for the market along our eastern 
coast, and the doe-bird, for this is one of its com- 
mon names, is a delicacy on the bill of fare. It is 
also known as " f utes." 

. WHIMBREL 

{Numenius phceopus) 

Adult male and female — Top of head, sooty brown, with a longitu- 
dinal medial stripe of buff, a dark stripe on side of head from 
bill to loral region, and a distinct superciliary stripe of buff 
above ; remainder of head, neck, and lower parts, light buff, 
lightest on throat and anal regions ; cheeks, neck entire, jugu- 
lum, and breast, streaked with brown ; entire rump, white ; 
upper tail-coverts, white, barred with brown ; tail, dark gray, 
barred with dusky, and tipped with white ; iris, brown ; bill, 
black, base, yellowish brown ; legs and feet, plumbeous. Other 
plumages, closely similar. 

Measurements — Length, 17 inches; wing, 10 inches; culmen, 3.50 
inches; tarsus, 2.50 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number; olive-brown, blotched with dark brown; 
measure 2.34 by 1.67 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Iceland, the Faroe, Orkney, and Shetland 
islands, and probably in Greenland ; in Scandinavia and Russia, 
east to the Petchora River and Ural Mountains, above the forest 
limits, and north to 66°. Winters from the Azores and Canary 
Islands, through central Africa to Cape Town, and east to India, 
and occasionally the Malay Peninsula. Has occurred in Spitz- 
bergen and several times in Greenland. 



Shore-bird Shooting 449 

The whimbrel is the European representative of 
the Hudsonian curlew, which it closely resembles. 
It may be immediately distinguished by the pure 
white rump. Several specimens from Greenland 
constitute its claim to a place on the North 
American list. 

The whimbrel is an abundant summer resident 
of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, breeding in 
marshes of the most desolate country it can find. 
Like so many other of the large waders, naturally 
pugnacious in the breeding season, swooping with 
a trilling cry at any strange or moving object, the 
few still raising their young in regions that man 
frequents have learned his disposition, and fly or 
run silently from their eggs while he is yet far 
away, and keep well out of gunshot. 

BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW 
(JVumenius tahitiensis) 

Adult male and female — Crown, sooty brown, with central longi- 
tudinal stripe of buiF, a dark streak from bill through eye over 
■ the auricular region, a superciliary stripe of buff above, rest of 
head and neck, buff, streaked with brown ; back and scapulars, 
brown, with spots of buif ; wing-coverts, paler ; upper tail-coverts 
and tail, buff, barred with dark brown ; throat and under parts, 
buif; neck and breast, streaked, the flanks barred with dark 
brown ; the shafts of feathers of tibial and femoral regions, 
lengthened like bristles ; bill, black ; base of mandible, flesh 
color; feet and legs, bluish; iris, brown. 

Measurements — Length, 17 inches ; wing, 10.50 inches ; tarsus, 2.30 
inches; culmen, 3.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeding range unknown; recorded from the Kowak 
River, St. Michael, and Kadiak, Alaska, in summer ; from Lower 
2G 



450 The tVater-fowl Family 

California ; and in winter from the islands of the South Pacific, 
from the Hawaiian Islands to New Caledonia, and from the 
Ladrones to the Marquesas and Paumota groups. Has been 
taken on the Phoenix Islands, in Oceanica, on June 29 and 
July 2, and found common on Laysan in summer. 

There are only two instances of this curlew 
having been taken on our western coast, both in 
Alaska, — one at St. Michael, the other on Kadiak 
Island. The one shot at St. Michael was killed 
by Nelson. It was one of a pair, and both birds 
were shot but the other lost. This species can 
only be regarded as accidental. 

The appearance and habits of this bird much 
resemble those of the Hudsonian curlew, as does 
its loud whistling call-note. 



CHAPTER XI 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

THE PLOVERS 

{CharadriidcB) 

The plover family contains almost as many 
species as the sandpiper-snipe group, and like it 
the members are found in all parts of the world. 
Many of them are very beautiful birds, and, among 
the species not occurring in North America, adorn- 
ments such as a crested head or a spur on the 
wing are occasionally present. They are swift- 
flying birds with very long wings which reach 
when folded to the end of the tail. They are 
gregarious in their habits except in the breeding 
season, and the journey of the entire length of 
North and South America, from their summer to 
their winter homes, is no more of a task to some 
of the plovers than it is to certain sandpipers. 
Other species are practically sedentary, but none 
of these occur in North America. Fourteen 
species with two subspecies have been recorded 
within our limits, but several are present only as 
stragglers. They frequent the shores and marshes, 
but by no means exclusively, some preferring the 

451 



452 The IVater-fowl Family 

upland fields. Their food consists largely of in- 
sects and occasionally berries, but none of them 
bore in the mud for their food like a snipe. Swift 
either on foot or on the wing, they delight our 
eyes with their graceful movements, as they do 
our ears with their mellow call-notes. 

None of the plovers are very large, and the 
neck is shorter than in the families already consid- 
ered. The bill is peculiar, — shorter than the head, 
and in shape somewhat like that of a pigeon. 
Near the rounded nostrils the bill is compressed 
and then expands, curving over in a hard tip. 
The legs are covered with small hexagonal scales ; 
the anterior toes have a small web at the base, and 
the hind toe is usually wanting. Although five 
genera occur in North America, our common spe- 
cies belong to two groups : one of these contains 
birds of medium size with mottled upper parts and 
with the lower parts black in the adults in sum- 
mer ; the other, small birds with plain upper parts, 
white lower parts, and usually a dark ring on the 
neck. 

LAPWING 
( Vanellus vanellus) 

Adult male in breeding plumage — Forehead, top of the head, chin, 
throat, and breast, glossy lustrous black ; feathers of occiput 
lengthened into a crest of the same color, curving upward ; 
sides of head and neck, white, marked with black streaks 
behind the eyes ; back, scapulars, and tertials, metallic green, 
changing to coppery purple on the outer scapulars ; rump, like 




BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER 



Shore-bird Shooting 453 

the back, but less brilliant ; upper tail-coverts, deep rufous ; 

basal half and top of the tail, white ; subterminal portion, black, 

this color disappearing on the outer feathers ; lower parts, pure 

white, becoming rufous under the tail. 
Adult female — Resembles male, but the throat is white, crest 

shorter, and upper parts less brilliant in color. 
Winter plumage — Is similar, but the throat is white, the black band 

on the breast tipped on some feathers with white ; some feathers 

on the back tipped with buff. 
Young — Similar to adult in winter, but feathers of upper parts edged 

with sandy buff; little purple gloss on scapulars ; crest very 

short ; sides of head and throat marked with sandy buff. 
Downy young — Above, light brownish gray, mottled with black; 

shoulders marked with rusty ; hind neck and entire lower parts, 

white ; chest, grayish. 
Measurements — Length, 13 inches ; culmen, i inch ; wing, 9 inches ; 

tarsus, 2 inches. 
Eggs — Four in number; dark olive, blotched with brown; measure 

1.93 by 1.34 inches. 
Habitat — Breeds from Great Britain and central Europe, through 

Asia to northern China and Japan, and north to the Arctic 

circle in Europe, and latitude 55° north in Siberia. Winters 

from Great Britain, central Europe, the Azores, and northern 

Africa, east to northwest India and southern China. Has been 

recorded from Greenland, Nova Scotia, Long Island, New 

York, Barbadoes, and Norton Sound, Alaska. 

This is the species that lays the " plovers' eggs " 
so well known to European epicures. It breeds 
in great numbers in western Europe, usually in 
marshes but often on the uplands, and its eggs 
are sold in market in thousands and tens of 
thousands, and until recently large numbers of 
the birds themselves were taken for sale in the 
breeding season. In spite of this persecution 
its numbers are still great, and one visiting suit- 



454 The MKater-fowl Family 

able localities in April or May will be saluted 
by the frantic dash and wailing peetweet of the 
male, and perhaps see the female steal silently 
away in another direction. When mating the 
male goes through the peculiar actions known 
as " tumbling " to win the attention of his loved 
one. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground. 
The flight is peculiar, as if the bird were jerked 
through the air. When walking, the long crest 
is usually held horizontal but sometimes carried 
erect. In Hungary, the lapwing breeds in 
grassy pastures bordering lakes, keeping up a 
continual noise while one is in the neighborhood. 
In the winter they feed in the fields in Egypt, 
and allow one to approach closely without show- 
ing signs of fear. 

The lapwing is also known as the green plover, 
peaseweep, peewit, and tuckit from its note, and 
the storm that often occurs about the time the 
birds return from their winter quarters is known 
in parts of England as the tuckit storm. It is 
included in the American Check-List on account 
of its occasional occurrence in Greenland. It 
has also been taken on Long Island. 

DOTTEREL 

{Endromias morinelbcs) 

Male in breeding plumage — Upper parts, ashy brown, feathers 
streaked and edged with sandy buff; rump and upper tail- 
coverts, ashy brown, edged with lighter ; primaries and second- 



Shore-bird Shooting 455 

aries, dusky brown, the first primary with outer web and shaft 
white ; secondaries, edged with whitish, the innermost with 
sandy buff; top of head, blackisli brown, feathers somewhat 
edged with sandy buff; broad white band over eye extending 
to nape ; rest of head and sides of throat, white, spotted and 
streaked with dusky ; throat, white, streaked with dusky below ; 
sides of neck and band across fore neck, light ashy brown, 
washed with buff and bordered below by narrow band of black 
and this by a white band ; breast and sides, orange-chestnut ; 
centre of lower breast and abdomen, black; lower abdomen, 
thighs, and under tail-coverts, white ; axillaries and under wing- 
coverts, smoky gray. 

Adult female in breeding plumage — Similar, but less brightly colored, 
and black abdominal space less conspicuous. 

Male and fe/nale in winter — Similar above, but top of head, 
brown, streaked with sandy buff; sides of face, ashy fulvous, 
streaked with brown ; chin, white ; throat, ashy brown, streaked 
with dusky, and a white band faintly indicated ; rest of lower 
parts, isabelline white, sides washed with buff. 

Young — Like winter plumage, but upper parts blackish brown, 
feathers edged with whitish ; space above eye, throat, and lower 
parts, washed with ochraceous. 

Downy young — Upper parts, black, mottled with rufous and sandy 
buff; black lines on forehead and lores; forehead, eyebrow, 
back of head, and lower parts, white. 

Measuretnents — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 5.75 inches; tail, 2.50 
inches; culmen, .75 inch; tarsus, 1.35 inches. 

Eggs — Two to three ; grayish buff, spotted with brown and gray ; 
measure 1.60 by 1.15 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in the Alps and the mountains of Great Britain 
and southern Russia to Scandinavia, and through Siberia, except 
the southeastern part, to Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. Win- 
ters in southern Europe and northern Africa. Accidental in 
Japan, and one taken on King Island, Alaska, July 23, 1897. 

Though chiefly confined in the breeding sea- 
son to the northern parts of northern Eurasia, 
a few still breed on the mountains of the Eng- 



456 The Water-fowl Family 

lish lakes. Here they frequent the upper slopes 
of the highest mountains, laying their eggs in a 
small hollow which they form in the moss that 
covers the ground. As one approaches the 
breeding-grounds, he will usually see one of the 
birds fly by, uttering a low, plaintive whistle, and 
presently notice the other running along the 
ground, its plumage harmonizing so with the 
moss as to be practically invisible when not in 
motion. When flushed from the eggs, the parent 
will usually run a few steps and then stand silent 
and motionless; but sometimes it will shuffle 
along the ground, its tail spread wide, and squeal 
like a rabbit. 

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER 
(Squatarola squatarola) 

Adult male and fetnale in breediftg plumage — Around the base of 
the bill, sides of the face, throat, neck, in front, and breast, 
reaching well on to the under parts, jet-black; forehead, nape, 
back of neck widening on the sides to breast, white ; some black 
feathers in the centre of the crown ; back and scapulars, black, 
spotted and barred with white ; wing-coverts, ashy brown, simi- 
larly marked ; greater coverts, ashy brown, edged with white ; 
under wing-coverts, white ; axillary plumes, black ; rump, brown, 
edged with white ; upper tail-coverts, white, irregularly barred 
with brownish black ; tail, white, barred with brownish black ; 
vent and under tail-coverts, white ; bill, black ; legs and feet, 
plumbeous ; hind toe present. 

Adult phwiage in fall and winter — Upper parts, dark brown, 
with irregular white markings, most numerous on the wing- 
coverts ; under parts, white, marked occasionally with dark 
feathers. 



Shore-bird Shooting 457 

Young plumage — Upper parts, lighter and marked with yellow, 
with white spots more or less rounded ; narrow lines on neck 
and breast, more numerous ; under parts, pure white. 

Dow^iy young — Upper parts, olive-yellow, spotted with black; hind 
neck and lower parts, white ; black lines on side of crown, from 
bill to eye, and below eye. 

Measurements — Length, ii inches ; wing, 7.50 inches ; culmen, 1.25 
inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Eggs — Four in number ; pyriform in shape ; ground color, light 
drab, spotted with brown ; measure 2 by 1.40 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Russian Lapland and northern Siberia, the 
Yukon Delta (?), Franklin Bay, Melville Peninsula, and probably 
northern Greenland. Winters from Portugal and the coasts of 
the Mediterranean to South Africa ; from India and southern 
China to Australia ; and from the Bahamas, West Indies, North 
Carolina, Louisiana, and California, south to Brazil, Paraguay, 
and Peru. Occurs throughout the United States in migration, 
but most common on the coast. Occurs also in Bermuda, 
Hawaii, and many other ocean islands. 

The clear, plaintive note of the blackbreast is 
the most musical sound of the shore and tells of 
a wild bird. Early August sees the first small 
flocks, and from Cape Cod to North Carolina 
they are found where the falling tide leaves ex- 
posed extensive sand-flats and where marshes 
and wild ocean beaches afford a resting-place at 
high water. Its whistle, often heard before the 
flock is seen, warns the gunner to lie low, and 
soon the line of dark birds comes in view, flying 
close to the water with grace and speed, heading 
straight for the decoys. One or two on set wings 
circle within range, but quick to notice the 
slightest motion are up and off while you hesi- 



458 The IVater-fowl Family 

tate a second for a closer shot. Make the most 
of every chance, for with low water they shy 
the points, and follow the receding tide until the 
furthermost bars are exposed, feeding with the 
throng of shore-birds at the edge of the flats. 
If this company is disturbed, the blackbreast are 
the first to take alarm and leave. A little shoot- 
ing quickly teaches them danger, and few birds 
become more wary : flying high between stopping- 
places, they keep to the open and avoid every- 
thing in the nature of a blind. Monomoy Island, 
on Cape Cod, was formerly a favorite resort for 
these birds. Here at high tide the flocks con- 
gregated on the high ocean beach in hundreds, 
leaving for the sand-bars first left bare, about two 
hours after the ebb, timing their arrival accurately 
with the tide. The constant gunning of the past 
few years has greatly decreased their numbers 
in this location and on Long Island. On the 
shores of Prince Edward's Island and the adja- 
cent islands in the gulf, they still occur in some 
abundance, following down the coast from the 
breeding-grounds ; and good shooting is had in 
the first two weeks of August. Here, two sum- 
mers ago, I enjoyed my last day's blackbreast- 
shooting. The tide served early, and we sailed 
across the bay some three miles to an offshore 
island. Several seal floundered into the water 
from its farther point. The bars here were cov- 



Shore-bird Shooting 459 

ered with the tracks of plover, and soon the 
famiUar note was heard. There was barely time 
to make our blinds of seaweed and set the stool 
when the first birds appeared. Blackbreast in 
pairs and small flocks, occasionally a curlew and 
yellowlegs, followed the same course along the 
edge of the beach, coming within range of the 
blind if permitted, — and generally they were. 
For a short time the shooting was fast, and then 
the inevitable tide turned the flight out of reach. 
We killed between us some three dozen birds. 
The young blackbreast arrive in these same 
localities early in September and are easily shot, 
coming readily to decoys and answering if whis- 
tled to. The white breast gives them exactly 
the opposite appearance of the old bird, and with 
many of our gunners they go by the name of 
"pale-belly." As late as October we find them 
along the coast, sometimes in large flocks. The 
migration south is continued through the West 
Indies into Brazil, and there are few places en 
route where the birds are not hunted. On the 
Californian coast the black-breasted plover is 
abundant, and at times appears in large numbers 
in the interior, through Manitoba and the Missis- 
sippi Valley. Occasionally these birds are seen 
in the fields, where they feed on grasshoppers and 
berries, the flesh under these circumstances at- 
taining its highest excellence. In the spring the 



46o The IVater-fowl Family 

journey north is taken along the shores, and we 
hear the blackbreast in early May in the same 
places he left a few months since, now attired in 
breeding dress. The jet-black of the breast and 
the bright mottling of the back afford a plumage 
well suited to one of our gamiest shore-birds. 
The Arctic countries, from the Anderson River 
region across the continent to the Melville Pen- 
insula, Alaska, and northern Siberia, are the 
nesting-places. The nest is placed in the grass 
or moss on the ground, and the eggs are laid in 
June. 

Like so many other shore-birds, the male 
blackbreast guards the female while she is incu- 
bating, performing no part of the latter duty him- 
self. If danger threatens he warns her, but keeps 
well out of gunshot himself, even though he lose 
all his family. With other enemies than man he 
is more brave, boldly attacking gulls that may 
come near his nest. By late July the young are 
fledged and the old birds leave them. The wide 
distribution and general popularity of this species 
have given it a number of names: in New Eng- 
land and Long Island, beetle-head, beetle, bull- 
head ; on Cape Cod, maycock ; off Virginia and 
North Carolina, plot. 

This species is common throughout northern 
Europe, and is well known in Great Britain, 
France, and the northern coasts. 



Shore-bird Shooting 461 

EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER 

{Charadrius apricarius) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, entire 
upper parts, black, spotted with bright yellow and white ; wing- 
coverts, brown, more sparingly spotted with yellow and white ; 
primaries, brown, with white shafts ; upper tail-coverts, black, 
irregularly barred with gold; tail, dark grayish brown, barred 
with white, tinged with yellow ; a white line from forehead, pass- 
ing over the eyes, broadens into a wide patch on the side of 
breast; sides of head, neck, throat, and under parts, black; 
under tail-coverts, white ; axillary plumes, white ; iris, brown ; 
bill, black ; legs and feet, plumbeous ; hind toe absent. 

Adult in fall and winter — Upper parts resemble the breeding 
plumage, but not as bright ; under parts, white ; lower part of 
neck and breast, mottled with grayish brown feathers. 

Young — Upper parts, dusky, mottled with dull ashy white spots, 
becoming yellow on the rump ; under parts, ashy, most marked 
on neck and breast, becoming white below. 

Downy young — Above, golden-yellow mottled with black; lower 
parts, spot below eye, another on hind neck, and streak on side 
of back, ashy whitish ; down of breast, blackish at base. 

Measurements — Length, lo inches ; culmen, i inch ; wing, 7 inches ; 
tarsus, 1.50 inches. 

£ggs — Four ; pyriform ; creamy white, heavily spotted with brown ; 
measure 2 by 1.40 inches. 

Naditat— Breeds from Iceland, Great Britain, and central Europe 
to northern Norway and western Siberia. Winters from Great 
Britain and central Europe to the Canary Islands, South Africa, 
and India. Several have been recorded from Greenland, where 
they may breed. 

The European golden plover closely resembles 
the American bird in plumage, and their habits 
are the same. Its occurrence in Greenland, where 
it is said to breed, has admitted it as an American 
bird. 



462 The Water-fowl Family 

Whether breeding on the inland moors of the 
Hebrides or the heather-covered hills of Shetland, 
these birds have their housekeeping affairs well 
arranged. The female cares for the duties of 
incubation, while the male, on guard a short dis- 
tance away, gives a soft whistle to warn her of 
approaching danger; then both leave the vicinity 
of the nest, usually long before the sharpest eye 
can discern where their treasures lie. Fresh eggs 
may be found from the end of April to the begin- 
ning of July, many birds remaining in flocks until 
well into the breeding season. The eggs are laid 
on a few pieces of grass and heather in the moss, 
but sometimes a more ambitious architect will 
fashion from these materials a well-formed and 
commodious nest. 

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER^ 
( Charadrius dominicus) 

The various plumages of the American golden plover closely resemble 
the species just described. The only difference in the breeding 
plumage is found in the under wing-coverts and axillary plumes, 
which are gray instead of white. The golden spots of the upper 
parts are usually less marked. In the winter plumage and the 
young the species are not distinguishable except by the color 
of the axillaries. 

Measurements — Length, 10.50 inches; wing, 7.09 inches; culmen, 
.92 inch ; tarsus, 1.70 inches; middle toe, .90 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number; ground color, various shades of drab, 
blotched with dark brown and black, the markings most 

^ This species is fully described in the " Upland Game-Bird " 
volume of the library. 



Shore-bird Shooting 463 

abundant around the larger end; they measure 1.90 by 1.30 
inches. 
Habitat — Breeds from northwestern Alaska, possibly northern 
British Columbia and the Barren Grounds, to the Parry Islands 
and probably Greenland. Winters from West Indies and 
Louisiana to Argentina, Chili, and Patagonia. In the United 
States it is now rare, formerly abundant on the Atlantic Coast 
north of North Carolina in fall, always rare farther south, and 
along the entire coast in spring ; common, formerly abundant, 
in the Mississippi Valley, and rare on the Pacific Coast in both 
migrations, but has been recorded as far west as the Queen 
Charlotte Islands. Recorded twice from Europe. Formerly 
abundant in Bermuda in fall. 



PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER 

( Charadrius dominicus fulvus) 

The plumage is identical with the American golden plover, but the 
golden spots on the upper parts are more marked. The bird 
is slightly smaller. 

Meastirements — Length, 10.25 inches ; wing, 6.40 inches ; culmen, 
.92 inch ; tarsus, i .70 inches ; middle toe, .90 inch. 

Eggs — Not distinguishable from C. dominicus. 

Habitat — Breeds in northern Siberia, from the Yenisei River east 
to Bering Straits and on the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea, 
occurring also on the Aleutian and Pribilof islands in migra- 
tion. Winters from the Hawaiian Islands and China south 
to Oceanica, New Zealand, Australia, and west to India, and 
has been reported several times from Europe and once from 
Algeria. Occurs in flocks in Hawaii throughout the year. 

This is an Asiatic form of the American bird, 
differing from it in its smaller size and more 
golden markings. It occurs on the islands of 
Bering Sea and on the Alaskan Coast, from St. 
Michael to Kotzebue Sound. The habits of the 
two varieties are identical. 



464 The Water-fowl Family 

KILLDEER PLOVER 

{j^gialitis vocifera) 

Adult male and female in breeding and winter plumage — Top of 
head and upper parts, grayish brown, inclining to umber ; rump 
and upper tail-coverts, rufous ; forehead and broad superciliary 
stripe, throat, nuchal collar, and lower parts, white ; front of 
the crown, loral stripe extending toward the occiput, collar 
around the neck, and band across breast, black; primaries, 
dusky, the inner quills marked on their outer webs with white ; 
tail, pale rufous brown variegated with white, long, marked 
with a subterminal black bar with white tips, the middle pair 
of feathers tipped with buff; under parts, white; bill, black; 
iris, brown; eyehds, red; legs and feet, grayish. 

Young — Resembles the adult, but the feathers of the upper part 
more or less marked with rusty. 

Downy young — Upper parts, grayish brown, finely speckled with 
black ; forehead, flanks, and lower tail-coverts, pale brownish 
buff; lines on lores, surrounding crown, in centre of back, across 
wings, on sides, and around neck, broadening on chest, black ; 
line around neck, last joint of wing, and rest of lower parts, white. 

Measurements — Length, 10 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; tail, 3.50 
inches; tarsus, 1.50 inches; culmen, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; pyriform in shape ; ground color, pale buff, 
profusely blotched with brown, most marked on the larger end ; 
measure 1.65 by 1.13 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Lower California, Mexico, and Jamaica, perhaps 
the Bahamas, and throughout the United States, except possibly 
southern Florida, north to Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, 
Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia ; rare in the 
northeastern portion of its range. Winters from New Jersey, 
sometimes Massachusetts, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, 
Texas, Utah, California, and the coast of British Columbia, south 
to Paraguay and Chili, and in Bermuda. Has been taken in 
Great Britain. 

While not uncommon on the coast, we associ- 
ate the killdeer with the West, a graceful orna- 



Shore-bird Shooting 465 

ment of the prairie, following the plains to the 
Pacific Coast, and passing south into tropical 
America. The northern limit of its common 
range is the Saskatchewan. With early spring 
the bird arrives in most of its resorts, sometimes 
not waiting for the snow to leave. It frequents 
the cattle pastures and ploughed ground, gather- 
ing about the smaller pools, keeping, for the most 
part, on the ground ; few birds are more at ease 
on their feet, running with speed, if necessary 
taking wing lightly with quick flight, uttering its 
plaintive killdee as it flies from possible harm. 
The bird is not particularly good eating, and 
hence in many places is undisturbed. In Dakota 
I have seen them close to the farms, feeding 
within a few feet of the houses, often among the 
chickens. In spite of the bright, attractive color- 
ing of its plumage, the killdeer is occasionally 
difficult to see, and frequently I have heard the 
note a short distance off without noticing the 
bird until it flew. On the barren mesas of Mexico, 
wherever there is water, the killdeer are very com- 
mon, breeding abundantly. One nest I found lay 
in the very centre of a narrow trail which was 
used daily by herds of cattle on their way to 
water. The birds, after using every art to dis- 
tract the attention, alighted on the ground a few 
feet away, and in piteous notes pleaded for their 
possession. It was left unmolested. The breed- 



466 The IVater-fowl Family 

ing-ground is general throughout the range. 
The young run and hide on leaving the shell, 
and few little chicks have more devoted parents. 
Along the coast the killdeer comes to the marshes 
and rarely is seen on the flats, generally prefer- 
ring the fields where the grass is short and grass- 
hoppers and various insects abound. Here it also 
feeds on little worms and grubs. In localities 
where the life of every bird is in danger, the cry 
killdee has often served a timely warning, and 
this restless, watchful plover has started many 
a flock of unsuspecting birds. It winters regu- 
larly in the Southern states, and some few brave 
the cold weather of the North. The Bermudas 
and West Indies see them at this time, and many 
pass into Central America. 

Toward the end of November, 1888, large 
numbers of this species appeared on the Atlan- 
tic Coast from Nova Scotia to Long Island, New 
York, having been carried north by a storm. 
None of these birds were found far in the in- 
terior, and most of them disappeared in a few 
days, although a few lingered until March on the 
New England coast. 

SEMIPALMATED PLOVER 

{/Egialitis semipalmata) 

Adult male in spring and fall plumage — Front, throat, ring around 
the neck, and under parts, white ; a black band crosses the 
breast, extending around the back of the neck, below the white 



Shore-bird Shooting 467 

ring ; a band from the base of the bill, beneath the eye, and a 
wide band in front, above the white band, black ; upper parts, 
grayish brown ; quills, dark with shafts white ; greater coverts, 
tipped with white ; middle tail feathers, brown with a wide sub- 
terminal dark band and narrowly tipped with white ; two outer 
tail feathers, white ; others, intermediate, broadly tipped with 
white; bill, black with orange base; legs and feet, grayish ; a 
web between the outer toes and the middle ones, reaching to 
the second joint; iris, brown. 

Female — Similar in plumage, but somewhat lighter. In the young, 
the black is replaced by grayish brown, and the upper parts are 
lighter. 

Downy young — ^ Upper parts, pale grayish brown, finely mottled with 
black ; forehead, cream color ; broad band around neck, last 
joint of wing, and lower parts, white ; line from bill encircling 
crown, and spot before eye and on side of chest, black ; fore- 
head, cream color. 

Measurements — Length, 7 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, .50 
inch ; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, drab, with blotches of black ; 
measure 1.20 by .95 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Sable Island, the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
(possibly Grand Manan), Ontario, northern Manitoba, and As- 
siniboia, north to Greenland, Cumberland, Fort Anderson, and 
the interior of Alaska; most abundant near the Atlantic Coast. 
Winters from the West Indies, Florida, Louisiana, and Lower 
California, south to Patagonia, Chili, and the Galapagos, some 
reaching South America by July 7. In migrations most abun- 
dant on the Atlantic Coast, but not rare in the interior or on 
the Pacific Coast south of the Aleutian Islands. Occurs also 
in northeastern Siberia, Greenland, and Bermuda. 

A social, friendly little plover, well known 
along our coast, where its sudden sharp note has 
made many a gunner start in the expectation of 
something bigger, only to see a ring-neck dart 
over his decoys. This species associates com- 



468 The Water-fowl Family 

monly with the small fry, and can generally be 
seen among flocks of peep, feeding at the water's 
edge on the flats and beaches, gentle and unsus- 
pecting, paying little attention to the outside 
world. Running rapidly, perhaps stopping to 
take in the situation, when, if occasion require, it 
takes graceful wing and speeds to some safe spot. 
The ring-neck looks much like a miniature kill- 
deer, and on dark sand is often diflicult to notice, 
provided the bird remains motionless. While 
partial to the shore, this species is found inland 
on nearly any small body of water, seeking its 
food of little water insects and bugs or tiny shell- 
fish at the edge of the beach. If the flock is 
startled, all take flight at the instant, showing 
dark as the light strikes the back, and white 
when the breasts suddenly turn into sight. These 
birds pass far to the north, breeding within the 
Arctic circle, on the interior watercourses, and 
near the coast, from Greenland to Alaska. The 
nest is on the ground, where a little hollow is 
scooped out for the eggs, and these are placed on 
dead leaves, the parents guarding well their treas- 
ure, and when the chicks are hatched, showing 
every devotion to them. Late in July we see 
them throughout our boundaries, and by early 
August some have reached the coast of Florida. 
They keep on the southern journey through the 
West Indies to South America, scattering through 



Shore-bird Shooting 469 

the interior and occurring on both the Atlantic 
and Pacific shores. This species is also known 
as the ring-neck plover. 

EUROPEAN RING PLOVER 
{JEgialitis hiaticuld) 

Adult male and female — Similar to the ring-neck plover, ^. semi- 
j)almata, but larger. The plumage differs in that the European 
variety has a white spot behind the eye, and the dark band 
across the chest is broader. The semipalmation reaches only 
to the first joint. 

Downy young — Similar to ■/£". semipahnata, but forehead, white. 

Measurements — Length, 7 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, .50 
inch ; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Similar in color and shape to the American variety, and 
measure 1.40 by 1.05 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from western and central Europe and Turkestan, 
north to Taimur Peninsula, Siberia, Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, 
Iceland, Greenland, Cumberland, and possibly Sabine Island. 
Winters on the shores of the Mediterranean and throughout 
Africa. Has been recorded fi-om Barbadoes, Chili, India, and 
Australia, and is said to breed on the Red Sea. 

Included in the North American fauna on 
account of its breeding on the American side of 
Davis Bay. 

In the breeding season this species keeps close 
to the beaches, as it does most of the year, using 
for a nest a slight hollow in the sand lined with 
small pebbles or pieces of shell, or, where the cliffs 
skirt the shore, bare, gravelly places on the hillside. 
A remarkable instance of the persistent brooding 
of the ringed plover is recorded in Poynting's 



470 The Water-fowl Family 

" Eggs of British Birds." A bird was found sit- 
ting on a nest containing only four beer-bottle 
corks on May 26, and though the nest was fre- 
quently visited and the corks thrown out, they 
were found invariably again in the nest and the 
bird on them up to July 26. 



LITTLE RING PLOVER 

(^^gialitis dubia) 

Adult male and female — Similar in plumage to the semipalmated 
plover, ^. sefnipalmata, but the white on the primaries is con- 
fined to the shaft, and a white bar borders posteriorly the black 
band on crown ; bill, entirely black ; legs and feet, dull yellow. 

Measurements — Length, 6 inches; wing, 4.50 inches; tail, 2.50 
inches; culmen, .50 inch; tarsus, i inch. 

Eggs — Four; pale buff, finely spotted with dark brown and gray; 
measure 1.20 by .90 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from southern Europe, central Asia, and Japan 
north to latitude 60° in Siberia and Europe, excepting Great 
Britain and Ireland. Winters in northern and central Africa, 
India, and south to the Malay Archipelago. Has been recorded 
from Great Britain, Alaska, and California. 

A European species straggling to the coast of 
Alaska and California, and hence listed among 
the North American birds. 

In its breeding habits and eggs, this bird closely 
resembles our piping plover, and, like that species, 
is seldom found on its eggs during the day. 
For its summer home it prefers the sandy shores 
of large rivers and lakes to those of the ocean. 
In the mating season the male soars in the air 



Shore-bird Shooting 471 

like a skylark, uttering its love-song as it rises 
higher and higher, and then slowly returns to the 
ground. 

PIPING PLOVER 

{^gialitis nielodd) 

Adult male — Beivjten the eyes, over the forehead, is a band of 
black and another about the back of the neck and sides of the 
breast ; forehead, neck, above the broken, black band, and entire 
under parts, white ; top of head, ear-coverts, back, and wings, 
ashy gray tinged with brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts, white ; 
primaries, dark brown ; shafts and inner webs, white ; tail, white 
at base marked by a subterminal black band on all but the two 
outer feathers, which are white ; bill, yellowish orange with a 
black tip ; legs and feet, yellowish orange ; iris, brown. 
Female — S,im\\a.r to the male in plumage, but the black bars have 

a brownish hue and are more indistinct. 
Voung—VJithout the black band; collar around the back of the 

neck, ashy brown. 
Measurements— Length, 7 inches ; wing, 4.50 inches ; tail, 2 inches ; 

culmen, .50 inch ; tarsus, .90 inch ; middle toe, .75 inch. 
Eggs — Your in number; ground color, light cream, over which are 

fine markings of black; measure 1.20 by i inches. 
Habitat — Bretds from the coast of Florida, locally, north to the 
Magdalen Islands and, probably, southern Labrador, Lake Erie, 
Lake Michigan, and in Cuba and the Bahamas. Winters in the 
Bahamas, West Indies, Florida, and Texas, and accidentally in 
Massachusetts. Recorded from Bermuda, Greenland, Hudson 
Bay, and Alaska. In migration east to the Bermudas and west 
to North Dakota and probably Manitoba. 

Common throughout the eastern United States, 
and breeding through the maritime provinces of 
Canada to Florida, this bird frequents the sandy 
stretches of ocean beach, nesting among the drift 
on the sand. The eggs so resemble in color their 



472 The Water-fowl Family 

surroundings, it is almost impossible to distinguish 
them. At the approach of danger the old bird 
slips from the nest, and running quietly off, rises 
at some distance, betraying its anxiety in plaintive 
cries and attempting to distract the attention of 
the intruder to itself. It is believed by some to 
cover its eggs only at night and in stormy weather, 
relying on the sun to assist in incubation. The 
young are hatched in July, and the little chicks 
keep high up on the beach at first, but when they 
are fledged follow the parents to the water's edge, 
where they feed on insects abounding in the soft 
sand, left wet by receding surf. In August, gath- 
ering in small flocks, they occasionally straggle to 
the flats inside and associate with the ring-neck 
and peep. The young birds resemble the adults 
closely in plumage, but are without the black 
markings on the neck and head. They begin the 
migration south about three weeks after the old 
birds, appearing in limited numbers on the New 
England and Long Island coasts early in Sep- 
tember. From their abundance farther north and 
the scarcity here, it would seem that many keep 
on their migration until more southern climes are 
reached. 

This species also occurs in the interior in the 
vicinity of the Great Lakes, following the Missis- 
sippi Valley south. In the extreme of its western 
range, it comes into contact with the western 



Shore-bird Shooting 473 

variety, the belted piping plover. After the early 
fall we do not see them again until May. 

BELTED PIPING PLOVER 

{/Egialitis nieloda circumcinctd) 

Adult male and fcfnale—'R&stmhl&s the plumage of the piping 
plover, ^. meloda, but has a continuous black ring about the 
neck, which in the piping plover is interrupted. There is no 
difference in size between the two varieties. 

Downy young— \5^^tx parts, pale cream-buff, speckled with blackish ; 
forehead, sides of head, band around neck, last joint of wing, 
and lower parts, white; line around nape, on wings, sides of 
rump, and tail, black. 

.^^j— Similar to those of the piping plover. 

Habitat — ^xtt&& on Sable Island, the Magdalen Islands, Ontario, 
Indiana, and Illinois, to Lake Winnipeg, possibly Hudson Bay, 
Assiniboia, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Winters 
in Texas, Louisiana, and probably the West Indies. Migrates 
chiefly through the Mississippi Valley, but occurs on the Atlantic 
Coast from Maine to South Carolina. Typical specimens do 
not breed east of Lake Erie, but intermediates nest on the 
Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to the Magdalen Islands. 

The western variety of the common piping 
plover. This bird is common in Manitoba and 
our Western states, along the Mississippi Valley, 
into Texas. It occasionally straggles to the 
Atlantic coast. The habits are precisely similar 
to those of its eastern relative. 

SNOWY PLOVER 

(JSgialitis nivosa') 

Adult male — Forehead, superciliary region, indistinct collar on back 
of neck, and lower parts entire, pure white ; a band across the 
fore part of crown, auriculars, and patch on each side of the 



474 The IVater-fowl Family 

breast, black ; upper parts, gray ; crown and occiput, occasion- 
ally tinged with buff; primaries, dusky with white shafts; the 
two outer tail feathers, white, the rest gradually growing darker 
to the inner pair, which are dusky. 

Adult female — Similar to the male, but without the distinct black 
markings ; sometimes these are wanting ; bill and eyelids, in 
both, black ; iris, brown ; legs, slate color ; inside of mouth, 
fleshy white. 

Young — Without the black markings, which are replaced by ashy ; 
upper parts, lighter. 

Downy young — Upper parts, pale grayish buff, mottled with black; 
a dusky streak behind eye; forehead, band around neck, last 
joint of wing and lower parts, white. 

Measurements — Length, 6.50 inches; wing, 4.25 inches; culmen, 
.60 inch; tarsus, i inch; middle toe, .50 inch 

Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, light drab, finely dotted with 
black about the larger end ; measure 1.18 by .95 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from southern and central California and Utah, 
and possibly Wyoming, to western Nebraska (?), southern Kan- 
sas and Texas, and probably western Florida, and possibly in 
Central and South America. Winters from southern California 
and Louisiana, south on both coasts of Central America to Vene- 
zuela, Chili, and Paraguay. Recorded from Cuba and Ontario. 

The snowy plover is found on the coast of 
southern Cahfornia, inland as far as the Great 
Salt Lake. It is abundant on the ocean beaches, 
frequenting the high, dry sand, and has many of 
the habits of the piping plover. The bird is gen- 
erally silent, and the soft coloring of its plumage 
blends perfectly with the surroundings. Along 
the California shore this plover remains through 
the winter, breeding in May. The nest is a mere 
depression in the sand, and several pair are often 
found in a comparatively small area. The eggs 



Shore-hird Shooting 475 

resemble exactly the coloring of the beach and 
are very difficult to see. The old birds, after the 
manner of other birds of the family, feign wounded 
and try every means to get their enemy away. 
The young are hatched in early August and at 
once accompany their parents in search for sand- 
bugs, feeding on the little insects that abound on 
the beach, running quickly away from the pur- 
suer, or settling motionless on the sand, where 
they easily escape observation. The snowy plover 
is found also on the interior bodies of water near 
the coast, and is very abundant in the Salt Lake 
region. In May, 1901, I shot a pair of these birds, 
feeding on the edge of a lake, near Chihuahua, 
Mexico, in company with a number of larger 
birds, teal and avocets; they were the only ones 
seen. 

MONGOLIAN PLOVER 
{j^gialitis mongola) 

Adult male — Forehead, a broad band beneath the eye extending 
over the ear-coverts, black ; a narrow frontal band of black 
from the culmen to the upper anterior margin of the eye ; 
between this and the stripe below is a stripe of white ; lower 
eyelid, white ; stripe from behind the eye, buff, becoming rufous ; 
crown and back of neck, brownish gray, mottled with rufous ; a 
narrow collar of bright cinnamon about the neck, broadening 
on to the breast ; upper parts and wings, grayish brown with a 
faint tinge of green ; tips of greater wing-coverts, white, form- 
ing a bar ; primaries, dark brown ; upper tail-coverts, grayish 
in the centre, laterally white ; tail, central feathers dark gray, 
grading to white on the outer feathers ; each feather, except thq 



476 The Water-fowl Family 

two central, tipped with white ; entire under parts, white ; bill, 

black ; legs and feet, olive-gray ; iris, brown. 
Adult female — Similar, but rufous paler, and less sharply marked ; 

and black markings on head less distinct. 
Winter plumage — The cinnamon and bright brown are replaced 

by gray ; the black markings of the head in the spring plumage 

are replaced by grayish brown. 
Young — Similar to winter plumage, but a bufFy suffusion to plumage, 

and feathers of upper parts bordered with buff. 
Measurements — Length, 6.75 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; culmen, 

.75 inch; tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, .75 inch; tail, 2.50 

inches. 
Habitat — Breeds in northeastern Siberia and the Commander 

Islands. Winters from the Philippine Islands to Australia, 

passing through China and Japan in migration. Two were 

taken on the Choris Peninsula, Alaska, in 1849. 

Dr. Stejneger found this species breeding 
abundantly on Bering Island, where it arrives 
early in May. In its habits it much resembles 
some of our own small plover, running rapidly 
along the beach if pursued, and running also 
from its nest before it is possible to mark the 
exact location of the latter. A nest taken early 
in June contained three eggs, and was situated 
near the shore on a small island. Dry pieces of 
leaves, stems, and the seeds of a plant growing 
near formed the nest, which was placed in a slight 
hollow in the ground. One note of this bird is 
a clear, sharp whistle. The bird is common on 
the Commander Islands and has straggled to 
Alaska. 



Shore-bird Shooting 477 



WILSON S PLOVER 

{jEgialitis wilsonia) 

Adtilt male — Forehead and line over eye, white; crescentric patch 
on forehead, and a band across the jugulum, black ; throat and 
under parts, pure white ; back of head, back, wings, and rump, 
brownish gray, darkest on head ; greater wing-coverts tipped 
with white forming a bar; iris, brown; bill, black; legs and 
feet, yellowish. 

Female — Resembles the male, but the black markings are replaced 
by brownish ; the breast is tinged with buff. 

Young — Similar to adult female, but feathers of upper parts edged 
with paler. 

Downy young — Upper parts, grayish buff, mottled with black; fore- 
head, sides of head, band around neck, last joint of wing and 
lower parts, white ; a black line behind eye. 

Measicrements — Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 4.50 inches; culmen, 
.75 inch ; tarsus, i .25 inches ; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Two to four in number ; ground col6r a deep drab with black 
markings, most marked about the larger end ; measure i .45 by 
I inches. 

Habitat — Ranges on the coast of North and South America from 
Virginia, casually north to Nova Scotia, to Brazil, and from 
Lower California, casually north to San Diego County, Cali- 
fornia, south to Peru, and in the Bahamas and West Indies. 
Breeds probably throughout its range, and is a resident in the 
Bahamas and West Indies and from Louisiana and Texas south. 
Reported from Vermont. 

The southern coast of the United States is the 
home of the Wilson's plover ; here they are abun- 
dant and frequent the ocean beaches, going in 
winter to South America, and from Lower Cali- 
fornia to Peru. In May, near Cobb's Island, this 
plover was one of the commonest beach-birds, 
and though mated and breeding seemed to keep 



47S The Water-fowl Family 

in colonies. Here in many places the tide of the 
bay rises to the inner edge of the outer beach, 
and it was along this inside flat, close to the 
ocean, the birds were most numerous, feeding on 
the wet sand. I seldom saw them at the edge of 
the breaking waves. The nests were on the high 
beach, slight depressions in the ground, and the 
eggs so exactly like the surroundings it was almost 
impossible to see them. They allowed us to ap- 
proach within a few feet, then ran off, — while 
danger threatened keeping up a plaintive note of 
distress. This species is readily distinguished 
from the other small plover by its large and rather 
long bill. 

MOUNTAIN PLOVER 
(/Egialitts montana) 

Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Forehead and stripe 
over the eye, and entire lower parts, white ; somewhat soiled 
beneath ; fore part of crown and a line from bill to the eye, 
black ; rest of crown and entire upper parts, grayish brown, the 
feathers tinged occasionally with reddish buff; tail, dusky; 
shafts of primaries, white ; iris, brown ; bill, black ; feet, yellow. 

Winter plumage — Similar, but the black markings on the head are 
absent and the plumage is more tinged with buff. 

Young — Similar, but feathers of upper parts edged with buffy ; side 
of head, neck, and chest, cream-bufF. 

Downy young — Upper parts, brownish buff, mottled with black; 
lower parts, pale buff. 

Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 6 inches; culmen, .85 
inch; tarsus, 1.50 inches; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Three in number ; ground color, dark drab marked with 
black spots about the larger end; measure 1.40 by i.io inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Arizona, eastern New Mexico, Indian Terri- 



Shore-bird Shooting 479 

tory and western Kansas north to the Canadian boundary in 
central Montana, and probably west to Utah and south into 
Mexico. Winters from western Texas to central Mexico and 
from the interior of central California into Lower CaUfornia. 
Accidental in Florida. 

Fond of the plains, this species is common on 
the table-lands of the Rocky Mountains and in 
the southwestern deserts of the United States, 
breeding in these locations. The birds are gentle, 
and when approached run out of harm's way 
rather than fly. They may stand perfectly mo- 
tionless, trusting in the resemblance of their 
plumage to the surroundings to protect them. 
The flight is low down, the plover sailing on 
curved wings, and running for a few steps after it 
has alighted. The nest is placed on the ground 
and contains three eggs. After the young are 
fledged, in July, this species collect in small flocks, 
keeping mostly to the prairie and barren plains, 
feeding on various insects, grasshoppers, and 
crickets, from which diet they become fat and 
excellent. With the frosts and cold weather the 
birds pass to the south, keeping pretty much to 
the high, dry mesa. In May, 1901, I saw a pair 
of mountain plover in one of these locations in 
northern Mexico, where they were evidently nest- 
ing. They ran ahead of the horses a few feet, then 
turned to one side and stood still as we passed. 
Rarely this species has been taken in Florida, and 
occasionally resorts to the plains close to the coast. 



CHAPTER XII 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

THE TURNSTONES AND SURF BIRDS 

{AphrizidcE) 

This is another small family of but four species, 
all of which occur in North America, and three 
are confined to the New World. They are all 
small birds, frequenting almost exclusively the 
ocean beaches or the rocks lining the coast, and 
have earned the name of turnstone by their habit 
of turning over pebbles in search of the insects 
beneath. All breed in the far North, wandering 
over most of the earth's surface in autumn and 
winter. The ruddy turnstone is the only species 
found in eastern North America, and in this the 
striking plumage of the male, his back of black 
and rufous, black breast, white abdomen, black 
bill, and red legs will arouse the admiration of 
any one in whom custom has not dulled the eye 
for beauty. 

In many structural peculiarities these birds re- 
semble the plovers, but they may be recognized 
by their rather pointed bills, their legs with trans- 
verse scales in front, the presence of a hind toe, 

480 



Shore-bird Shooting 481 

and the absence of a web between the anterior 
toes. Their whistle is clear and loud and given 
more often by a single bird than by a member of 
the large flocks in which the turnstones some- 
times assemble. 

SURF BIRD 
{Aphriza virgata) 

Adult jnale and female in sujmner plumage — Head, neck, and back, 
spotted and streaked with dusky and white, the white predom- 
inating on the head, neck, and breast, where the darker mark- 
ings are in irregular streaks, but in the form of crescentric bars 
on the back and lower breast ; scapulars marked with large, 
irregular spots of rufous ; wing-coverts, grayish brown ; tips of 
greater coverts, white, forming a bar across the wing ; primaries, 
blackish brown with white shafts ; rump, brown, indistinctly 
tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts, white ; tail, white on the 
base, the remaining half, black ; abdomen, white ; flanks and 
lower tail-coverts, white with black spots ; bill, black with yel- 
lowish base ; legs and feet, yellowish ; iris, brown. 

Winter pluinage — Head, neck, and upper parts, slate color ; rest, as 
in summer. 

Young — Upper part, brownish gray, the feathers edged with whitish ; 
throat, neck, and breast white, streaked with gray ; rest of lower 
part and upper tail-coverts, white ; wings and tail, as in adult. 

Measurements — Length, lo inches ; wing, 7 inches ; culmen, i inch ; 
tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, .90 inch. 

Eggs — Unknown. 

Habitat — Breeds probably in the interior of northwestern Alaska. 
Winters in South America, occurring in migration along the 
Pacific Coast of North and South America, from the Kowak 
River, Alaska, to Chili and the Straits of Magellan. 

The surf bird ranges along the Pacific Coast 
of North and South America, but is apparently 
everywhere rare, and little is known of its habits. 



482 The IVater-fowl Family 

The breeding-place has not been discovered. It 
has been taken in Alaska, at St. Michael, and 
near Sitka, also at the mouth of the Columbia 
River. Another name for this species is the 
plover-billed turnstone. 

The natives of Kotzebue Sound and St. Michael, 
Alaska, say that this bird breeds near small lakes 
on the tundra, twenty to thirty miles back from 
the coast. It is a shy and solitary bird, with much 
the habits of the wandering tattler, inhabiting 
rocky shores and small islands off the coast. 

TURNSTONE 

{Arenaria interpres) 

Adult male and female — Chin and throat, a large spot on lores, ear- 
coverts, back of neck and upper part of back on each side of 
breast, white ; the crown marked with black streaks ; rest of 
head, sides, and upper part of breast, black ; back and scapulars, 
black, their centre marked with brown ; lesser wing-coverts, 
brown ; greater coverts, black, broadly edged with white form- 
ing a bar across the wing; primaries, brown tipped with white ; 
rump, white; tail, white with subterminal black band, tipped 
with white ; under parts, pure white ; bill, black ; feet and legs, 
vermilion ; iris, brown. 

The plumage differs greatly in brilliancy in different individu- 
als, the variations being in the distinctness of the black markings 
and the presence of rufous brown on the back. 

Winter plumage — Similar to the above, but the black feathers are 
edged with white and the back less marked with brown. 

Young — Head, mottled gray; upper parts, dusky, the feathers 
bordered with buff; jugulum and breast, mottled dusky; under 
parts, pure white ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, reddish. 

Downy young — Upper parts, blackish gray, slightly washed with 
yellowish, and some of the feathers tipped with black ; line on 



S bore-bird Shooting 483 

crown, another from bill to eye, and spot on nape, black ; lower 
parts, white ; sides of head, white. 

Measurements — Length, 9 inches ; wing, 6.25 inches ; culmen, .90 
inch; tarsus, i inch; middle toe, .75 inch. 

Eggs — Vary greatly; four in number; ground color, a light drab 
deeply blotched with light brown; measure 1.60 by 1.18 
inches. 

Recently, particular attention has been given to the turnstone 
found in Alaska, and it proves to be a separate species from 
that inhabiting the rest of the continent of North America. Mr. 
William Palmer, after careful research on this subject (the Avi- 
fauna of the Pribilof Islands), demonstrates distinct differences 
and identifies the Alaskan bird as A. inter pres, the eastern 
variety as A. morinella, the ruddy turnstone. 

A. inter pres — Larger, wing more than 6 inches; black above pre- 
dominant ; feet, vermilion. 

A. morinella — Smaller, wing under 6 inches ; chestnut above pre- 
dominant ; feet, orange-red. 

Habitat. A. interpres — Breeds in Greenland and from Point 
Barrow, Alaska, to the Yukon Delta and on St. Lawrence Island 
in Bering Sea. Unrecorded from the mainland of North 
America on the Atlantic Coast, and on the western south of the 
Aleutians. In the eastern hemisphere breeds in Iceland, the 
Orkneys, islands in the Baltic, and the coasts of Scandinavia, 
northern Russia, Nova Zembla, and Siberia south to Japan, and 
the Kuril Islands, and has been recorded from Spitzbergen and 
Franz Josef Land. In winter spreads south along the entire 
coasts of Europe and Asia to South Africa, the Indian Ocean, 
Australia, New Zealand, Oceanica, and most of the islands in 
the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. It is given as a resi- 
dent, and has been thought to breed, on the Azores, Canary, and 
Balearic islands, islands in the Red Sea, near Madagascar, 
Portugal, and Hawaii. 

A. morinella — Breeds on the shores of the Arctic Ocean from 
the Mackenzie River, east probably to Cumberland, and south 
possibly to Hudson Bay. Winters from the Bermudas, West 
Indies, Florida, possibly North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, and 
Lower California, south to Patagonia, Chili, and the Falkland 
and Galapagos islands ; has been recorded in Venezuela early 



484 The IVafer-fowl Family 

in July, and from Jamaica, Louisiana, and Texas throughout the 
year. In the migrations chiefly along the coast, especially the 
Atlantic, but occurs throughout the interior of the United States, 
except, possibly, the Great Basin. 

The turnstone is cosmopolitan and well known 
in nearly all parts of the world. It is common on 
the coast of North America, and is found in the 
interior on the Great Lakes and larger bodies of 
water. It is seen in small flocks early in August 
on the flats, following the tide out with the sand- 
pipers and plover, or in the marshes, often on the 
gravelly beaches and where the shore is rough 
and rocky. Here they follow the water's edge, 
looking for their food of insects and little worms 
along the lines of seaweed cast up by the tide, 
often turning over small stones and picking in 
the sand underneath ; active and restless all the 
time, apparently not watching the observer, then 
suddenly running a short distance and taking 
wing, uttering a grating whistle as they speed 
over the surface of the water to a safer feeding- 
ground just beyond. In the few places where 
they can tarry unmolested, the birds become as 
gentle as the smaller sandpipers, and it is a pleas- 
ing sight to see the turnstone in its bright calico 
markings, one of the ornaments of our northern 
beaches. At the Magdalen Islands the boys 
often catch them with horse-hair snares, as they 
gather about the heaps of kelp. Along the Atlan- 



Shore-bird Shooting 4^5 

tic Coast the turnstone is well known as one of 
the smaller varieties of big birds that " make up " 
the bag, and in many localities the name chicken 
is applied to this species. They come readily to 
decoys, and often the harsh, twittering note is the 
first evidence of their presence, and the gunner 
turns in time to see a bird quartering off to one 
side, just out of reach. The flight is graceful and 
fast ; when suddenly alarmed by the blind a quick 
turn often makes the mark a hard one. Toward 
the end of September the young of the year 
appear and remain about our shores until late in 
the month. They lack the bright coloring of the 
adult bird, but at a short distance the general 
effect is the same. Turnstone are most often 
seen in small flocks and have no hesitation in 
associating with any of the numerous variety of 
shore-birds, big or little. In April the familiar 
note tells of their arrival on our southern shores, 
and we see them frequenting the same routes 
they left the summer before, stopping awhile 
before passing on to the final destination in the 
remote Arctic regions. These are reached in 
June. The nest is placed on the ground, some- 
times sheltered by a low-growing shrub. In the 
breeding season the male gives its alarm note if 
the nest is approached, and then both birds fly 
to high ground, perching on rocks, if such are 
present, and watch silently, not moving while 



486 The IVater-fowl Family 

any one is near. The nests are hollows in the 
stony beaches near high-water mark. The eggs 
are three to four in number and vary as much 
in coloring as do the birds themselves. The 
young are fledged in July, and we see the first 
flocks of old birds late in this month. The turn- 
stone is occasionally taken, during its breeding 
season, far to the south, in temperate climes. 
That they ever actually breed in these localities 
is doubtful. On islands in the South Pacific, it 
is said, the natives keep these birds in cages as 
pets, and also match them against each other as 
fighting cocks. 

Mr. Palmer describes the turnstone on the 
Pribilof Islands as arriving about the middle of 
July, and by the end of the month abounding 
everywhere, reaching the island by the north- 
eastern shore, flying southward until the killing- 
ground is reached; here they swarm about the 
seal carcasses and feed on the maggots that infest 
them, becoming so fat they are run down and 
captured by the young Aleuts. Soon after the 
first of August the birds begin to take their 
departure from the Pribilofs. About six in the 
evening a small flock of forty or more rise into 
the air from the village pond with loud, shrill 
cries, sweeping about the head of the lagoon and 
gathering fresh recruits, make a straight course 
high over the village and out to sea. From the 



S bore-bird S booting 487 

Pribilofs they pass to the Aleutian Islands, and 
hereafter we know little of the migration. 

In distinction from the turnstone inhabiting the 
Old World and Alaska, the American species has 
been named the ruddy turnstone, on account of 
its brighter coloring. 

BLACK TURNSTONE 

(^Arenaria melanocephald) 

Adult male and female in breeding phunage — Head, neck, breast, and 
upper parts, dusky with a faint reflection of green ; a spot in front 
and behind the eye with streaks on the forehead and the ear- 
coverts, white ; wing, marked by a white bar ; primaries, brown 
on outer webs, white on inner, with white shafts ; lower part of back 
and rump, white ; upper tail-coverts, black ; lateral ones, white ; 
tail, marked with a broad, terminal, black band ; chest, dusky 
brown, lighter than back, white streaks on the breast ; rest of under 
parts, white ; iris, brown ; bill, black; legs and feet, yellowish. 

Winter phmiage — Like the summer, but no white on head or neck. 

Young — Similar, but upper parts and breast more grayish, and 
feathers above edged with whitish. 

Measuretnents — Length, 9 inches ; wing, 6 inches ; culmen, i inch ; 
tarsus, I inch ; middle toe, .85 inch. 

Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, drab profusely spotted and 
dotted with brown; vary greatly in size; measure 1.70 by 1. 15 
inches. 

Habitat — Breeds from Norton Sound, Alaska, possibly Point Bar- 
row and northeastern Siberia, on the coast of North America 
to British Columbia, and probably on St. Lawrence Island in 
Bering Sea. Winters in California and Lower California south 
to Santa Margarita Island. Has been recorded from India. 

A Pacific variety, most abundant on the northern 
parts of the coast, not ranging much below south- 
ern California. It is common on the shores of 



488 The IVater-fowl Family 

Bering Sea and Alaska and most of the neigh- 
boring islands, often occurring with the common 
turnstone. The birds frequent the flats and 
marshes alongshore, as well as the beaches. They 
are often found some distance inland on ponds 
and smaller bodies of water. The black turn- 
stone breeds in the northern portions of its range, 
placing its nest on the ground and laying four 
eggs of an olive color, finely mottled with black, 
closely resembling the surroundings. Locations 
along the coast near the water are selected. The 
young are fledged in July, and early in September 
follow the old birds on their migration south. In 
habits this species closely resembles the common 
turnstone. 



CHAPTER XIII 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 

THE OYSTER-CATCHERS 

{HcsmatopodidcE) 

A DOZEN species of large, strange-looking birds, 
with brightly colored, wedge-shaped bills, compose 
this family. Shy and solitary in their habits, they 
range over the beaches of most of the world, the 
American species never occurring far from the 
seacoast. The most peculiar character of these 
birds is the bill, and by this they can be recog- 
nized at once. It is about twice as long as the 
head, and straight, high, flattened on the sides and 
pointed, thus resembling a wedge, and is bright 
red or orange in color ; the nostrils are large and 
set in a deep hollow. The eyes are either red or 
yellow, and the legs heavy and covered with small 
hexagonal scales. The oyster-catchers have no hind 
toe. Their cry is loud and rather harsh ; and most 
of them breed on some slight elevation in the sand 
of the ocean beaches. Of the four species found 
in North America, three are confined to this con- 
tinent, only one of them occurring on the Atlantic 
Coast, and one is a straggler from Europe. 

489 



490 The Water-fowl Family 

EUROPEAN OYSTER-CATCHER 

(Hcematoptis ostralegus) 

Male and female in breeding phimage — Head, neck, and upper 
parts, glossy black ; greater wing-coverts, pure white ; pri- 
maries, black with most of inner webs white, the white extend- 
ing to outer web on inner primaries ; secondaries, white with 
black tips ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal half of tail, 
white ; rest of tail, black ; spot below eye and lower parts 
from breast, white ; feathers at junction of fore neck and 
breast, black and white ; bill, vermilion ; feet, purplish red ; 
iris, crimson ; eyelids, vermilion. 

Winter plumage — The same. 

Young — Browner on back than adult; feathers vermiculated and 
edged with sandy brown ; primaries with more white, and a 
band of white on throat. 

Downy young — Upper parts, sandy gray, mottled with black on the 
head, and striped with black on back, rump, and flanks ; throat 
and thighs, blackish ; rest of lower parts and edge of wing, 
white. 

Measurements — Length, 16.50 inches; wing, 10 inches; tail, 4 
inches; culmen, 3.25 inches; tarsus, 2 inches. 

Eggs — -Three or four ; oval ; buff spotted with dark brown and gray ; 
measure 2.35 by 1.50 inches. 

Habitat — Breeds in Iceland and the coast of western and southern 
Europe, and in eastern Europe and western Asia, from the 
Black Sea, the Caucasus, and Turkestan, north to the Arctic 
circle, on the banks of large rivers and lakes. Winters in 
Iceland, Great Britain, and the coasts of central Europe, south 
to both coasts of central Africa, and from the Caucasus to 
western India. Several have been taken in Greenland. 

The European oyster-catcher apparently much 
excels our bird in its ability to adapt itself to 
circumstances and find a home wherever it may 
wander. Sometimes it lays its eggs on the bare 
rocks of a rugged shore, or in a slight hollow of 



Shore-bird Shooting 491 

some gently sloping beach just above high water. 
One pair chooses an open spot on the bright 
turf ; a second, some cranny among the drift of a 
river bank; while a third is contented to perform 
the duties of incubation among the prosaic sur- 
roundings of a potato field. Sometimes a simple 
hollow suffices it as a nest ; often small pebbles or 
bits of shell are placed in this, and occasionally it is 
lined carefully with dry grass. But wherever the 
nest may be and however made, it is guarded care- 
fully by the birds, who fly screaming overhead if 
any one comes near. In general the habits of this 
bird are similar to those of the American oyster- 
catcher. 

AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER 
(^Hcsmatopus palliatus) 

Adult male and female — Head and neck, black; back, wings, and 
tail, slate-brown ; rest of the plumage, including greater wing- 
coverts, upper tail-coverts, sides of the rump, base of the tail, 
and entire lower parts, white ; bill, vermilion ; eyelids, ver- 
milion ; iris, bright yellow ; legs and feet, fleshy white. 

Young — Similar to adult, but upper tail-coverts tipped with buff; 
bill, brownish ; iris, brown ; feet, gray. 

Dotuny young — Upper parts, light fulvous gray, finely mottled with 
darker ; lines behind eye and stripes on back, black ; lower parts, 
white. 

Measurements — The different individuals vary. Length, 17 to 21 
inches ; wing, 10.50 inches ; culmen, 3.25 inches ; tarsus, 2.25 
inches ; middle toe, 1.25 inches. 

Eggs — Three or four in number ; cream color with irregular spots, 
lines and markings of bistre; measure 2.25 by 1.65 inches. 

Habitat — Ranges on the eastern coast of North and South America, 
from New Jersey, casually New Brunswick, and given by Audubon 



492 The Water-fowl Family 

from Labrador, south to Patagonia, and on the western coast 
from Mexico to Chili, and breeds probably throughout its 
range. Recorded in the West Indies ; but these records may 
refer to H. prattii — a bird with a slightly different bill, 
described from the Bahamas. 

One of the largest and showiest of our waders, 
formerly well known along the Atlantic Coast as 
far as Massachusetts, now, however, rarely strag- 
gling north of New Jersey. South of this point 
the oyster-catcher is well known and is found on 
the shores of the Southern states, the West Indies, 
and Brazil, — ranging on the Pacific from Mexico 
to Patagonia. In Virginia and North Carolina 
this bird is common, on the high, barren stretches 
of ocean beach ; if approached, running rapidly 
just out of reach ; when hard pressed, rising and 
uttering its note — a sharp tseep ; generally flying 
a short distance and lighting in some command- 
ing spot, the bird surveys the intruder, then runs' 
along ahead. The gunners here seldom, molest 
it, as there is no market for the flesh, and the 
sea-crow, for this is the local name, goes usually 
undisturbed. In the spring I have often seen 
the birds near Cobb's Island. They were in 
pairs, sometimes four or five together, and kept 
for the most part on the dry sand, though occa- 
sionally I have noticed them close to the water, 
and in one instance shot one over decoys on one 
of the marshes in the bay. The flight of the 
oyster-catcher is short and near the ground, but 



Shore-hird Shooting 493 

graceful and speedy, and its size is better appre- 
ciated on the wing. This species nests along a 
greater part of its range, choosing for this purpose 
the highest portion of the beach, often laying its 
eggs near some dry drift. They are deposited in a 
slight depression in the sand, and in color resemble 
exactly the surroundings. In bright weather the 
birds leave the nest a large part of the time, cover- 
ing it only at night and in stormy weather. The 
young are hatched late in May and follow the old 
birds in pursuit of food. This consists of various 
small shellfish and sand-bugs. The former opinion 
that the bird destroyed oysters is erroneous. The 
little oyster-catchers bear a close resemblance to 
the coloring of the beach and readily hide, while 
the parents exhibit the greatest distress, flying close 
by, uttering piteous cries, and doing all in their 
power to distract attention from the young. When 
hard pressed the birds occasionally take to water, 
where they swim and dive with ease. Through 
the summer often six or more are seen together, 
keeping to the same resorts along the beach, very 
rarely straggling up the bays and rivers a short 
distance inland. By early fall they have departed. 

frazer's oyster-catcher 

{H(Z7natopus frazeri) 

Adtilt male and female — Similar to the American oyster-catcher 
in general plumage; the bill is stouter and more depressed; 
there is little or no white on the eyelids ; the upper parts are 



494 The IVater-fowl Family 

deeper brown, a broad zone of mottled black and white feathers 

extending across the breast. 
Measurements — Wing, lo inches; tail, 4 inches; tarsus, 2.25 

inches; bill from nostril, 2.35 inches, from feathers, 3 inches; 

depth at angle, .50 inch. 
Habitat — Ranges on both coasts of Lower California and rarely 

north to Ventura County, California, and breeds throughout its 

range. May prove synonymous with H. galapagensis, of the 

Galapagos Islands. 

Closely resembling the American oyster-catcher 
in appearance, this bird has exactly the same 
habits. It frequents the shores of the islands of 
the coast of Lower California and possibly western 
Mexico. As early as January the bird mates, 
breeding on the high beaches. 

It keeps close to the water's edge and feeds on 
small shellfish. It is shy, running rapidly along 
the beach and giving a clear whistle as it takes 
flight. 

BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER 
{Hcematopus bachmant) 

Adult jnale and female — Head and neck, black ; remainder of plu- 
mage, sooty, with a brownish tinge ; bill, vermilion ; iris, yellow ; 
legs and feet, pale flesh color. 

Youtig — Similar, but browner ; many feathers on upper parts tipped 
with buff. 

Downy young — Upper parts, olive-gray, mottled with black ; spot on 
crown and flanks, and Hues from nape, on back, to rump, black ; 
throat and breast, slate-gray; centre of throat and abdomen, 
paler ; white spot in middle of breast. 

Measuretnents — Length, 17 inches ; wing, 9.50 inches ; culmen, 2.75 
inches; tarsus, 1.75 inches; middle toe, 1.50 inches. 

Eggs — Two or three in number ; light olive-buff, spotted with black- 
ish and purplish gray ; measure 2.20 by 1.50 inches. 



Shore-bird Shooting 495 

Habitat — Ranges from the Aleutian Islands to Lower California. 
Breeds from California north, and winters from British Columbia 
south. Recorded from the Kuril Islands, probably by mistake. 

From Alaska, along the Pacific Coast to Lower 
California, this bird ranges, frequenting not so 
much the sandy beaches, as is the habit of other 
oyster-catchers, but the rocky shores, feeding on 
mollusks and various small shellfish, among the 
seaweed. The black oyster-catcher is very noisy, 
and calls to its companions with a shrill, sharp note, 
readily answering if his cry is imitated. The bird 
breeds in the Aleutian Islands in May, depositing 
its eggs on the beach, the color of which so closely 
resembles the surroundings it is difficult to find 
them. In unfrequented places this species is not 
wild, but quickly learns to appreciate danger. It 
walks with a " solemn, stilted gait," bobbing the 
head up and down as it proceeds. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED') 

THE JACANAS 

(^Jacanidce) 

Just where to place the jacanas, ornithologists 
were long in doubt ; in their habits, appearance, 
and long toes they closely approach the rails ; 
but in their internal anatomy, their plover-like 
bills, spurred wings, and the fleshy wattles on the 
forehead, they resemble some of the shore-birds, 
to whose ranks they have been finally joined. 
There are about a dozen species inhabiting the 
tropics of both hemispheres. They possess long 
and slender legs, long toes, and extremely long 
claws that enable them to run about on the broad 
leaves of the water-plants that grow in the lakes 
of their habitat. The bill is more sharply pointed 
than that of a plover, but the long and sharp spur 
on the bend of the wing and the strange lappet 
on the forehead, together with their extremely 
large, long toes, make them easy to identify. 
Only one species reaches our southern border, in 
Texas and Florida: active and noisy, it moves 
with perfect ease on the lily-pads that float on 

496 



Shore-bird Shooting 497 

the surface of the water, and if frightened retires 
to the dense vegetation where we must leave it. 

A remarkable species found in southeastern 
Asia, with a total length of only eighteen inches, 
has a tail that is ten inches long. Four of the 
tail feathers are much longer than the others and 
arched like those of a pheasant. It builds a flat 
nest of grass and rushes which floats on the water, 
attached to the plants growing near. In this, and 
the six or seven olive-brown eggs it lays, it cer- 
tainly resembles a rail much more than a shore- 
bird. 

MEXICAN JACANA 
(^Jacana spinosa) 

Adult male and female — Head, neck, upper part of back, and breast, 
black, with reflections of purple ; lower back and wings, purplish 
chestnut ; primaries and secondaries, pale yellowish green, the 
primaries bordered with blackish brown; rump, upper tail- 
coverts, and tail, dark purple ; lower portion of breast and 
flanks, maroon ; abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts, brown- 
ish maroon ; a frontal leaf of three lobes, bright orange in color, 
covers the forehead from the base of the bill ; bill, bright yellow ; 
a sharp spur on the wing of orange ; iris, brown ; feet and legs, 
greenish. 

Young — Frontal leaf, yellow, rudimentary ; top of head and back of 
neck, pale brown ; a yellowish white stinpe from base of bill to 
nape ; a black stripe behind the eye, broadening on the neck 
and upper back ; back and wings, pale brown; primaries and sec- 
ondaries, yellowish green ; rump and upper tail-coverts, brown ; 
tail, dark ; upper parts in general, light brown ; chin, throat, 
sides, and under parts, white, with a tinge of buff"; bill, yellow; 
legs and feet, olive. 

Downy young — Crown, back, and wings, orange-tawny ; nape and 
hind neck, dusky; lines on back, from eye to hind neck, on 



49^ The Water-fowl Family 

flanks, edge of wings, and thighs, black ; broad band of ochra- 

ceous buff on sides of back ; forehead, sides of head, last joint of 

wing, and lower parts, white. 
Measuretmnts — Length, 9 inches; wing, 5.50 inches; tail, 2.25 

inches; bill, 1.30 inches; tarsus, 2.10 inches; middle toe, 2.05 

inches. 
Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, drab, marbled and streaked 

over their entire surface with wavy lines; measure 1.20 by i 

inches. 
Habitat — Ranges from the United States of Columbia and Panama, 

north to the Rio Grande River, southern Florida, Cuba, and 

Hayti, and breeds throughout its range, though not known to 

do so in Florida. 



The jacana inhabits the tropics, straggling to 
the valley of the lower Rio Grande. The marshes 
along the coasts and bodies of water a short dis- 
tance inland are their resorts, and they are found 
in Mexico, Central America, and the neighboring 
islands to northern South America. This bird 
is very common on the West Gulf Coast, and in 
May, 1 90 1, I found it abundant near Tampico, 
frequenting most of the marshes, but more par- 
ticularly where lily-pads and weeds covered the 
surface of the water and high grass about the 
edges afforded a hiding-place. There were always 
several pair about these marsh ponds, chattering 
and scolding, darting out of the long grass on to 
the broad, flat leaves, feeding a few seconds, then 
running back, noisy all the time, restless, flitting 
their wings, paying but little attention to our 
presence if we remained quiet. Should another 



Shore-hird Shooting 499 

bird appear, the two often ran together, uttering 
harsh, clattering notes. Their appearance both 
on the ground and flying was unique, the pale 
green of the wings and purplish chestnut of the 
body with bright orange helmet and wing spurs 
being very conspicuous. The difference between 
the immature and adult plumage is striking, and 
the young bird would scarce be recognized of the 
same variety except for the characteristic habits 
and bad manners. Repeatedly I noticed the im- 
mature birds in pairs, and it seemed probable that 
the full dress is not assumed until after the second 
year. The jacana constructs a nest of grass, 
woven in such a way that it floats, if occasion 
requires. The eggs are peculiarly streaked with 
dark, irregular lines, well suited to an odd bird. 



THE WATER-FOWL OF THE PACIFIC 
COAST 

T. S. VAN DYKE 



THE WATER-FOWL OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



THE DUCKS 

For the wandering birds that love the water, 
the Pacific Coast seems more of a natural home 
than the Atlantic or even the basins of the Mis- 
sissippi and Missouri. On the latter the water- 
fowl are compelled to move south in winter, but 
on the Pacific Coast there is little reason but 
taste for travel in moving much south of Oregon. 
Yet they seem to love the drier and warmer sec- 
tions, and it is but a few years since tens of 
thousands bred in California ; while even to-day 
the mallard and teal and some others breed in 
southern California and even far down in Lower 
California (Mexico). It seems but a question of 
disturbance, for it is but a few years since the 
mallard made his summer home in ponds almost 
small enough to shoot across, nesting in the tall 
fringe of tule and typha that lined the shores for 
many yards into the water. Here the family spent 
the long summer days, floating calmly about on the 
smooth surface or muddling in little grassy coves, 

503 



504 The Heater-fowl Family 

but hardly ever seen on the wing unless alarmed. 
Then the whole party sometimes drifted into the 
girdle of green, and often the old ones rose and 
circled away on high while the little ones dived 
beneath the surface to rise again out of sight in 
the solid mass of reeds. When the American 
came to California he found all the ponds, sloughs, 
and lagoons dotted with ducks in midsummer, for 
the old Spanish settlers never troubled them. 
And the numbers were so increased in autumn 
by the great host that streamed out of the far 
North and knew still less of the wicked ways of 
man that, when the first rains of winter set the 
hills and slopes aglow with green, a good duck- 
pond in its setting, now tinged with russet and 
gold, was a sight worth the seeing. Here they 
spent the bright days of winter, some, like the 
widgeon, basking on the carpet of green that fast 
robed the land to the very edge of the water ; 
others, like the teal, drifting along the shores or 
dozing in little sunny bays ; others, like the 
canvas-back and the red-head, more in love with 
the middle of the pond, but all forming the most 
perfect picture of repose. In all nature I have 
found nothing so restful to the eye as such 
a mirror reflecting heaven's warmest blue be- 
side the image of the snow that gleamed among 
the dark pines on the mountain behind, with 
the meadow-lark warbling the first notes of 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 505 

spring from the willows and cottonwoods that 
overhung the water, with a thousand red wings, 
golden wings, and golden throats, gleaming on 
the blackbirds that thronged the fringe of reeds, 
while the thrush poured forth his soul from the 
crimson and green of the heteromeles on the 
drier ground, with the mocking-bird joining in 
from the verdant head of the massive live-oak. 

However abundant ducks might be there was 
rarely any flight by day such as once was common 
on the prairie, nothing equal to the old-time 
morning flight about the lakes and sloughs of the 
prairie and the adjacent river-bottoms, and nothing 
approaching that tumultuous whirl of whizzing 
life, now among the things that were, the evening 
flight. In some places a few ducks would fly 
about for a short time in the morning or evening, 
or both, and in other places all would move to 
some other pond or to the salt water. At night 
many flew out to feed on the grass or grain-fields, 
but a sun-bath from morning till night was the 
rule with the majority. Nor was there very much 
difference in many places even when the sky 
ceased its long smile and the storm-wind, bringing 
the needful rain, was strong enough to make a 
duck rejoice in the spreading of wing. In many 
places the movement was still not enough to 
make what in the prairie states would once have 
been called "a good flight," and too often the 



5o6 The IVater-fowl Family 

only way to get good wing shooting was to have 
some one go about with a boat or horse and keep 
the birds in motion where the pond was so large 
that the game would not leave it. If the ponds 
were small, then it was necessary to drive them 
from one to another and hide along the line of 
flight. Where they were mere beads upon a 
slough this often made very fine shooting, but 
where they were solitary ponds the birds simply 
went to another and resumed dozing in the sun 
until roused again. The consequence was that 
good flight shooting was not to be had every- 
where or every day, even where ducks were most 
plenty. And nowhere have I seen or heard of 
such pass shooting as I used to enjoy in Illinois, 
Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the sixties. In 
places there is fine flight shooting for a time, and 
there has been night shooting surpassing that of 
any other section, but in proportion to the num- 
ber of ducks I believe that what we used to 
call first-class duck-shooting has been rarer on 
this coast than on the great flyways of the Mis- 
sissippi watershed. The best of that shooting used 
to be without any decoys, which were used very 
little except in spring. But here in many places 
decoys seem necessary in autumn, though there 
are other spots where they are not. On the great 
prairies it was a certainty that thousands of the 
great travelling host from above would alight in 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 507 

any of the larger ponds to spend at least one 
night, and that in doing so they would be joined 
by as large a horde that had been out feeding in 
the vast corn-fields of the prairie. To be almost 
mobbed with such a combination tearing the air 
around your head, while you stood struggling 
with a muzzle-loader, was a common experience of 
the last hour before dark ; while a highly respec- 
table attempt to duplicate it in getting out of bed 
in the morning was almost a certainty. Decoys 
would have been an absurdity at such times. 
And the thousand lines of hissing wings that 
came plunging out of the sky, or swinging up out 
of the horizon, curled, twisted, and darted in so 
many directions at such tremendous speed that 
one was treated to every combination of shots of 
the hardest kind. 

I cannot find that any such flight shooting has 
ever been seen on this coast, and all that I have 
seen in twenty-seven years has been tame by con- 
trast. Yet the difference is not all loss. On the 
prairie there was little to cheer the soul of the 
tyro. Without the slightest difficulty he could 
burn up all his ammunition only to see an occa- 
sional tail feather part its hold, with its owner 
flying all the faster for being relieved of it, and 
possibly see a wounded duck plunge into the 
shades of night where even his dog could never 
find it Even the expert had to struggle with 



5o8 The IVater-fowl Family 

ravenous mud, with water continually threaten- 
ing the gunwales of his longest boots before he 
could get much fun, while the poor novice who 
had to venture a " pot-shot " from the shore was 
too often compelled to look with fond regrets on 
a bunch of dead ducks he dared not try to reach 
with the longest pole. 

But on the greater part of this coast the ponds 
have firmer bottoms and sides, so much so that a 
horse can often be ridden and even a wagon driven 
through. In almost all cases it is a simple matter 
to drive a wagon within a few yards of the water 
and often quite easy to touch it dry-shod. The 
consequence is that you can often hunt in a 
wagon or on a horse, locate the game from a dis- 
tance, and then swing round upon it as you wish. 
This will nearly always insure a rising shot which 
is generally hard enough for the tyro. But better 
shooting may be had by scaring out the ducks 
without shooting, and then hiding in the reeds or 
in many of the little gullies or cuts in the hard 
ground around their edges. If not shot at, and 
often if they are, they are quite apt to come back, 
singly, in pairs, and flocks for some time, wheeling 
and whizzing about at great speed before decid- 
ing to alight and thus presenting every style of 
difficult shot. In many places the water of 
flood years has gashed the plain with a long, 
winding gully six to ten feet deep, leaving a small 



The M^ater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 509 

stream at the bottom which widens into ponds of 
every kind. Before the rapid settlement of the 
land these little ponds were beaded with ducks, 
even the lordly canvas-back and dainty sprigtail 
being content within their small compass. Along 
the edge of the cut one could still drive for miles 
on hard, smooth ground and sometimes keep a 
steady stream of ducks rising, shooting only from 
the wagon and stopping only when something 
fell. Such days are gone. The best of the 
larger ponds are now rented by clubs, while most 
of the long sloughs are on ranchos of thousands 
of acres fenced and forbidden. By feeding and 
judgment in shooting, the clubs are really increas- 
ing the number of ducks, while the stopping of 
indiscriminate shooting on the ranchos has the 
same effect. But one who knows how to en- 
joy the field and cares nothing for slaughter can 
easily find the way to shoot on almost any of 
the preserved ground. 

On some of the lakes and sloughs methods of 
feeding have changed the flight of the birds, while 
on others they have preserved their natural flight 
so that it is quite reliable, subject of course to the 
eccentricities of the duck tribe which make it 
impossible to predict " a good duck day." In most 
cases decoys are relied on to bring the flying 
game within reach of a blind, and not necessarily 
to induce the bird to alight, so that decoy shoot- 



5IO The IVater-fowl Family 

ing is not always the easy work it once was 
in spring in the Middle West. In fact, the man 
who would wait for the bird to alight, or even 
wheel to return, as in old-fashioned decoy shoot- 
ing, is quite apt to be left gazing at an empty sky. 
The ducks are now so suspicious of thick reeds 
and commanding points that without decoys they 
will too often fly high out of shot. But a liberal 
sprinkling of good decoys riding the water, which 
in some cases are left there the whole season, 
brings many a one on a lower course. 

The only approach to the old-time shooting 
from a wagon is now along the irrigating canals, 
and even here it is generally necessary to get 
permission. The duck has also kept fair pace 
with improvements in guns and powders, so that 
he too must be consulted. Although in many 
cases, such as on the Calloway Canal, you can 
drive on the bank and see the game from a dis- 
tance that will enable you to make a detour under 
cover of the bank, the ducks can see you quite 
as far. And they are fully aware of the mean- 
ing of a wagon on that same bank. They 
know that no innocent farmer is travelling on 
that line. So that about the time you stop the 
wagon they may take wing a long way off. Or 
they may toy with your intentions by letting you 
start on that detour and then paddling away as 
soon as you are out of sight. By the time you 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 5 1 1 

make your detour, sneak carefully up the bank 
and raise your head, you see little but blank water, 
while a roar of wings a hundred yards or so on 
one side makes you wonder who it was that said 
the duck was not a game-bird. 

All water-fowl are crazy over freshly irrigated 
land, and for the first twenty-four hours after 
the water is turned in they can hardly be driven 
away from some fields. In the great valley, San 
Joaquin, there are tens of thousands of acres of 
alfalfa and grain irrigated in winter, and outside 
of the club grounds these now afford the best 
shooting in the southern half of California. The 
best used to be on the great tule marshes of the 
Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers and about 
their entrances into San Francisco Bay. Plenty 
of shooting and vast areas of good ground yet re- 
main open there, though the best places are now 
owned by clubs. But even on irrigated ground 
the duck is still wary. It appears quite accidental, 
yet there is a marvellous method in the way he 
selects open fields with no brush or banks behind 
which you can sneak on him. So that for the 
best shooting it will generally pay to make a pit 
on the line of flight. In all such cases the water- 
fowl generally have some big lake or pond where 
they spend much of the time flying from that to 
the feeding-ground, such as Buena Vista Lake at 
the head of the San Joaquin Valley, from which 



512 The PVater-fowl Family 

myriads of geese and ducks now stream to the 
feeding-grounds, making fine shooting at certain 
points on their flight each way. In all these 
cases decoys may be used to advantage on water, 
for many will dip even to a smaller sheet if they 
see company there. But there will be no such 
settling to decoys, at least in the earlier half of 
the season, as there was in what we used to call 
shooting over decoys in the Mississippi Valley. 
And it is doubtful if it will be the same, even 
when mating-time is near. 

This coast has some ducks rarely seen east of 
the Rocky Mountains, and among these none 
strikes the eye of the stranger like a little duck 
that seems especially at home in the South. 

THE CINNAMON TEAL 

Robed in lustrous cinnamon with gray wings 
heavily barred with sky-blue, and bill of shining 
jet, he glistens in the bright sun as if born to shed 
his rays. Yet he is the most artless of his race, 
and acts as if he would really like to be your 
friend if it were only safe. About the size of the 
green-winged teal but a little trimmer in build, he 
is a swift flyer, and may bother you to send the 
shot far enough ahead to connect with his whiz- 
zing wing. Of all the duck family he is the most 
beloved by those who do not value game solely 
by the size of the dent it makes on falling. 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 513 

Though this teal will breed in southern Cali- 
fornia if undisturbed, it loves a higher latitude for 
nesting and a far lower one for wintering. Far 
down in Lower California and even in Central 
America it lives, appearing in considerable num- 
bers in California only in spring, where it seems 
to enjoy the bright beams of the mounting sun 
more than any other bird. While other ducks 
are paddling, diving, feeding, preening their feath- 
ers, or looking uneasy at the distant approach 
of man, this little duck drifts about in sublime 
peace, often remaining when the other ducks 
with thumping wings have climbed the sunshine 
out of danger. In the little coves, where the ripen- 
ing alfileria fringes the bank and the golden flow- 
ers of the mustard are pictured in the quiet water, 
he floats as gently as if life were all a picnic ; and 
rarely do you catch him feeding, diving, or even 
flying unless disturbed. When he migrates he 
goes like the king-rail that glides about the reeds 
with such silent step, and whose ringing call is so 
delusive. He vanishes as silently as he came, 
though he remains till long after the sprigtail has 
set his forked rudder for the northern sky, and the 
burnished green of the mallard shines no more on 
the bright face of the lagoon. But hardly ever 
do you see him dot the upper sky, come hissing 
down the northern breeze in autumn, or rise upon 
you over the horizon like a charge of grape-shot 

2L 



514 The Water-fowl Family 

from the under-world. He is all gentility, the 
ideal of contentment, a picture of repose. He is 
too pretty to shoot, though when other ducks are 
scarce he may have to fill the breach, as none 
suipass him on the table. 

THE WOOD-DUCK 

Years ago, when I used to hunt on the tributa- 
ries of the Mississippi, the beautiful wood-duck 
was not only the first of the ducks from the north 
that gave much shooting, but it bred on the 
grounds in numbers sufficient to give fair sport 
before the wings of the great northern host began 
to sing as they rode downward on the shades of 
night. And even before that, around every bend 
in the slough, one could get a good shot from the 
canoe at ducks still young but strong of wing, 
while almost every log that projected into the 
water had a flock or two basking in the sun in a 
manner quite tempting to the tyro. 

Nothing of the sort seems to have existed on 
the Pacific Coast to any extent, and not at all in 
the southern part. The fulvous tree-duck, a true 
wood-duck, breeding in hollow trees, seems the 
only representative of the family here. It is a 
light fulvous or tawny yellow, with larger spread 
of wing than the eastern duck, but sadly short of 
it in color and grace, and not abundant enough to 
be a factor of importance in any of the shooting. 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 515 

In the southern part it is rare except as soHtary 
specimens, though I have seen seasons when in 
places they would make five per cent of the bag. 
But it is not an interesting bird like its cousin of 
the East. 

The most universal duck on this coast is 

THE MALLARD 

The mallard is found everywhere, from coast 
to mountain top and from Alaska far into Lower 
California, wherever there are a few square yards 
of water out of reach of the gun. And even 
where its thunders are most frequent he often 
takes his chances in dodging, relying on his supe- 
rior acuteness, which is fast becoming a highly 
respectable reliance. His improvement in climb- 
ing skyward at the first suspicion of a hat in the 
reeds, or the first glimpse of a boat, is in almost 
exact proportion to the improved range of guns, 
while the period of his return is in about inverse 
ratio to the increasing speed of fire. And his 
swift upward whirl is often too much, even for 
the best repeating gun, and sometimes even makes 
one doubt the efficacy of a double gun. He has 
dropped the old habit of skimming the tops of 
the reeds so low that he cannot see what is in 
them until too late. He has also learned the 
unprofitable nature of fanning the shore-line with 
his wings. He now winnows the breeze far above 



5i6 The Water-fowl Family 

the middle of the pond, studies it well from sev- 
eral points of view, then arches his neck, bobs his 
head once or twice, sets his wings in a stiff curve, 
and slides down an almost vertical incline, from 
which he is prepared to spring aloft at any sec- 
ond. When he reaches the water he rarely 
troubles himself about the opinion of other ducks 
that may be there, but spends several minutes in 
looking about before unbending the vast dignity 
of his suspicion. Only after a long season of 
quiet does he venture near the shore, and long of 
range must be the gun that can reach him from 
the reeds. Of course, he falls into some errors 
about the range of the latest nitro gun, but gen- 
erally his judgment is as good as that of the 
owner of the gun. 

Not much better is the case when he travels in 
company. The big flock that used to pass your 
blind at thirty yards, sweeping but a few feet 
above the water with long, brilliant necks out- 
stretched and glittering in the sun like couched 
lances in a charge of cavalry, now swings away 
on high where you will be lucky if you can stay 
the climbing powder of even one, while the double 
shot in such a case is almost a special dispensa- 
tion. And if they have seen you, there is little 
use of fattening hope on thoughts of their return. 
If they have seen a few inches of that gun, they 
are likely to inspect several other quarters before 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 517 

stirring your nerves again. And you need hardly 
wait until dark to see any more come pouring in. 
There are places where there will be some flight 
in the evening, but in many others silence broods 
more deeply as the sky reddens in the west. Yet, 
when the first scouts of dawn plant their golden 
standards on the peaks of granite in the east, if 
you are well hidden, you may often find the mal- 
lard in a hurry to go to or from the water, and 
not quite so particular about his line of flight. 
Sometimes he has been out feeding on the grass 
or in the grain-fields, and is in haste to rest his 
legs in the cool water, while in other places this 
may be the very time when he will scud away to 
feed along the shore inlets, or even go out to sea 
for a change. 

In size, color, and general habits the mallard of 
this coast hardly differs from his cousin of the 
prairies. Like all of the most wary animals he 
is sometimes caught napping; but, on the whole, 
is now a bird that commands the respect of every 
one who loves the gun, as beautiful as he is shy, 
and one of the brightest of the great tribe of 
the wild and free. 

THE SPOONBILL 

In spite of its rich soil and warm sun this coast 
cannot compare with the prairie states in turning 
out fat ducks. There is no feed to equal wild 



5i8 The PVater-fowl Family 

rice or the corn of the great corn-fields, and the 
rich feed of summer seeds here comes too late. 
Some ducks are still good in spite of lack of fat, 
such as the teal and mallard, but others that are 
fine when on good feed become dubious fare 
when the banquet fails and they have to descend 
to common food. Such is the spoonbill on the 
greater part of this coast. A good enough duck 
elsewhere, and good enough here when he carries 
fat enough to cook himself, he is yet such a poor 
skirmisher for corporeal beatitude that he is gen- 
erally in disfavor. In the midst of ripening alfi- 
leria, burr clover, and all the luxuriance of a 
California spring, with the light rippling in sil- 
very waves over the ripening wild oats and grain, 
heading out all around him, he can keep poorer 
with no apparent effort than anything else that 
lives. Too lazy to hunt good feed in many places, 
he lives on muddling in dirty ponds that little 
improve his flavor. Hence he is in disfavor when 
in his natural state, and it is considered a fine 
joke when some one in haste shoots a spoonbill 
by mistake for a mallard. On the feed of club 
grounds he can fatten into a good duck, and such 
will probably be his future. While stupid com- 
pared with the mallard and some of the larger 
ducks, he is still smart enough to be interesting. 
He has even less of a regular flight than the 
other ducks, and is little on the wing unless 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 519 

stirred up. He prefers to sit around in the ponds 
and muddle, and often spends days at a time in 
some little hole. But when he does mount the air 
his black and white, chestnut and blue, with crim- 
son feet, long neck, and head of burnished green, 
make him often easy to mistake for a mallard. 

THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL 

The blue-winged teal of the Mississippi Valley, 
a flyer of wondrous speed and, for his size, the 
most charming of all eastern ducks, seems lacking 
on this coast, though some specimens may be 
found in the North. But the common green- 
wing is abundant and is apparently the same as 
in the East. One who has had them hiss through 
the falling night like a charge of grape-shot, 
just missing his head to fade in the gather- 
ing gloom before he can whip his gun into posi- 
tion, has acquired a love for these teal that no 
change of their habits can alter. Though he 
travels in flocks and makes as good time with 
his rapid wing as elsewhere, the green-wing is not 
such a factor in general duck-shooting as in the 
old-time evening flight of the prairies when he 
added so much to the uproarious tumult that 
jarred your steadiest nerves. Then so many sprig- 
tails were riding down the darkness, so many gad- 
walls plunging out of the fading blue, so many 
mallards thumping the twilight, you could hardly 



520 The fVater-fowl Family 

stop to shoot at smaller ducks. Or if you could, 
there were bluebills by the score, rending the air 
with stiff -set wing, widgeon pouring in with plain- 
tive whistle, with wood-ducks filling up the chinks 
in what was left of daylight. Yet the rush of 
smaller wings in greater bunches, the incessant 
whisking of teal between you and the bird, when 
you raised it on some larger duck, made those 
thrilling moments even more lovely. 

Here the green-wing is more of a substitute for 
something better and, with the cinnamon teal, is at 
times the only duck on which any shooting may be 
had on some grounds. There are many small ponds 
and chains of ponds, sloughs, etc., too small for the 
other ducks to trust themselves on. Or if they 
take the chances of being too near the shore, find 
they have made a mistake and leave, there is lit- 
tle use in sitting down to nurse a hope of their 
return. But the teal, even when quite wild, does 
not like to be driven from some favorite spot. 
Suspicion is not enough for him, and he is quite 
apt to return to look for certainty. If you are 
well hidden, the flock may come whizzing back 
upon you in two minutes. And even if it steers 
far up into the sky, it does not follow that it will 
be gone more than five minutes. And so deter- 
mined is this little bird sometimes in the choice 
of its ground that even when you are standing in 
plain sight it will rush, dart, and twist all around 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 521 

your head in such a way that only the expert can 
hit one and then, having left the tyro pointing at 
vacancy, may alight within a hundred yards or 
more of him, as if in supreme contempt. And 
sometimes on some of the larger ponds the teal 
is the only salvation of the bag, for he will often 
remain after the canvas-back and the red-head 
have indorsed the opinion of the mallard and 
the sprigtail that there is a flavor of a new nitro 
powder in the air. 

THE "sprig" or pintail DUCK 

Less brilliant than some of the ducks, the ele- 
gant arrangement of brown, black, and white, 
glossy with green and violet, that robes the sprig- 
tail, his tripi and graceful figure, large size and 
gamy manners, make him quite as attractive as 
any of the ducks. He is apparently the same 
here as on the Atlantic side of the country, a 
bird always so welcome that you feel no disap- 
pointment when what you supposed a mallard 
shows the long tail feathers trailing against the 
sky as he comes within shot. But on this coast 
he has a special charm as the first duck that 
arrives in any numbers from the north, especially 
in southern California. The duck is never more 
attractive than when he first looms into the circle 
of expectation, and the sprigtail swinging one 
hundred strong around some bold promontory on 



522 The Water-fowl Family 

the coast, now dotting the blue sky and then the 
blue sea as they rise or fall, is one of the sights 
that stir the strongest fever in the blood of him 
who yearns for the coming of autumn. For it is 
long before the silvery honk of the goose begins 
to fall from the sky, or ever the sand-hill crane 
rolls his trumpet notes from the blue vault above 
him. You can then shoot the sprigtail in goodly 
numbers when there is no other duck flying, 
unless the few that have bred here. Again in 
the spring you may find him lingering around 
some little pond hidden in the timber, or in some 
larger one from which he can waddle with ease 
out upon the rich grass, for days after the snowy 
side of the canvas-back has ceased to shine on 
the lagoon and days after the glistening green of 
the mallard's head has vanished in the northern 
sky. 

In the meantime the sprigtail leads somewhat 
of a humdrum existence, associating with all 
other ducks after they come, sitting about on the 
still face of the waters, enjoying the winter sun as 
much as any tourist in the city park. He does very 
little muddling or diving, most of his feeding being 
at night on grass or grain. But on freshly irrigated 
ground he will do a full day's work of feeding and 
muddling as well as the rest of his friends. Ex- 
cept during the first days of his arrival he makes 
no shooting any different from the rest of the 



TM IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 523 

large ducks with which he is nearly always more 
or less mixed. Yet there are days when there is 
no pintail in sight, and other days when half the 
bag may be made of them, so that they are never 
reliable. Yet scarcely any duck is more welcome, 
while none surpass the sprigtail in those mysteri- 
ous attractions that are all the more attractive 
because so mysterious. If we could say wherein 
the charm of the field lies, it is doubtful if the 
charm would be there. 

THE CANVAS-BACK 

It is no less difficult to say what there is about 
the canvas-back that so makes expectation throb 
when his white coat begins to glimmer in the 
sun. It certainly is not its flavor, for it is here a 
very common duck, and generally not as good as 
the teal. Yet a fever begins to consume your 
soul as the bird rises into the line of sight that 
grows ever more raging as the bird approaches 
the line of fire. Surely it is not because of its 
size, which is less than that of the mallard. Nor 
is it because of superior gamy qualities, for, 
though as wild as the mallard in vacating on the 
slightest suspicion, he is far his inferior in getting 
out of the way of the gun after it begins to shine. 
He knows little about climbing out of the way of 
a tenderfoot's gun even after it is raised, and often 
makes a failure in sheering off where there is 



524 The Water-fowl Family 

plenty of time, of which the mallard is quick to 
avail himself. Yet there is little game that causes 
more satisfaction than when at the report of the 
first barrel a whirl of white and gray goes over 
with another turning over before the first has 
reached the water. Decoys seem more necessary 
for this duck than for any other except the red- 
head,' so much so that in some places it is idle to 
try to do much without them. This makes less 
variety of shots than you can have from other 
ducks like the teal. And if you find a large pond 
well filled with them and scare them, the chances 
are they will all leave for several hours, and give 
you none of the wild whirling lines of return from 
which you can pick such a variety of shots on other 
ducks, and occasionally make that greatest of all 
shots, the cross double, in which you take two 
birds going in opposite directions, one with each 
barrel. 

THE RED-HEAD 

Though duller of hue, the red-head is so much 
like the canvas-back in action that the shooting 
is about the same. I have found it much more 
attractive on their breeding-grounds around the 
upper end of Klamath Lake in southern Oregon, 
just before they begin to move south. Thousands 
of acres of reeds and grass surround the lake, 
threaded at the upper end with sloughs, inlets, 
and streams. Many of these are great spring 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 525 

creeks alive with huge rainbow trout, and most 
all of them are large enough to allow the finest 
canoeing. Most all the ducks, as well as the sand- 
hill crane, Wilson's snipe, and many other snipe, 
breed in the marsh-grass and reeds of this section 
and, when getting ready for the southern move- 
ment, add rare variety to the entertainment of 
him who has been wise enough to try the grand 
fishing at Pelican Bay or Williamson's River. 
Around the points and over the points the young 
birds try their wings morning and evening, while 
at all times of day great numbers may be stirred 
up by paddling up many of the sloughs that lead in 
all directions. Out of the long grass, too, where 
it is partly under water you may raise them in a 
way that will remind you of the finest grouse- 
shooting of the prairie. Upper Klamath Lake is 
also a great breeding-ground that will repay a 
visit in many other ways as well as in the quan- 
tity of ducks one will see. Early in the fall they 
stream out of there, down Williamson's River, in 
a way that may remind you of old days some- 
where else when a good shoot on flying ducks 
was almost a certainty. Oregon is full of such 
breeding-grounds, and one of the finest features 
of hunting water-fowl on this coast is that one 
does not have to go into the far North beyond all 
else that is attractive to see the gathering of the 
clans for the winter raid on the sunny slopes of 



526 The PVater-fowl Family 

California. You can stay in the midst of the 
grandest trout fishing, deer and grouse-hunting, 
and yet have a fine duck shoot in August. Most 
of the ducks breed still farther up the coast and 
even in Alaska, but these move so early that you 
will find many of them in Oregon mingled with 
the birds that have bred there. 

THE WIDGEON 

No one who has ever heard that tender whistle 
with which he generally heralds his coming, can 
ever forget the widgeon, and he is always welcome 
even among larger ducks. Amid the storm of 
lead that greets the rovers of the sky on this 
coast he holds his own about as well as the best, 
and wherever there is much shooting worthy of 
the name, the white-crowned beauty will be an 
essential factor in it. Next to the sprigtail, he 
is among the early ducks of fall, and stays as late 
as any but the cinnamon teal. While the rest of 
the ducks may stay on the water the whole day, 
every widgeon in the pond may be out on the 
bank sitting in the haze of gold and green the 
burr clover spreads along the sunny shore. There 
he may sit day after day among fine feed on 
which everything else is fattening, but you will 
not find him eating much of it, except at night. 
But turn a head of water from a ditch on some 
piece of ground, and he will be there before most 



The PVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 527 

of his companions discover it. But do not imagine 
he is any easy victim because he sits in the grass. 
He is wide awake even there, though he may make 
an occasional mistake about the attainments of a 
tenderfoot who is not too much afraid of grass 
stains on his pants. There is Httle or no special 
shooting on this duck, as there sometimes is on 
the sprigtail or canvas-back. Though like any of 
the ducks he may sometimes be found alone, he 
is generally in mixed company and is hunted in 
about the same manner as the rest of the tribe. 

THE GADWALL 

Nature surpasses all art in the combination of 
simple colors she has made in the gadwall or gray 
duck. Black, white, gray, and brown, as woven 
in its gamy robe, have made beauty as perfect 
as it could have been made with more brilliant 
colors, so that there is hardly any feathered game 
on which we look with much more satisfaction 
than on the fallen gadwall. It is the same on 
this coast as elsewhere, and is now so wild and 
wary that it is rarely in much danger from any 
but the expert. Even with him its charming 
addition to the bag is too often accidental, for 
it is rarely found in sufficient numbers to be 
worthy of a special hunt, and it is quite common 
to have a fair flight of ducks keep your gun warm 
without the presence of the gray duck. It is less 



528 The PVater-fowl Family 

distinctive in its manners and mode of life than 
many of the others, so that less reliance can be 
placed on it. It appears more often as a surprise 
among a more numerous company, and it is often 
a surprise in another way, for if one is not in full 
practice, one is quite apt to underrate the speed 
of this large duck. And the distance at which he 
keeps, with his heavy armor of feathers, enables 
him to laugh at any old-time hunting outfits. All 
the larger ducks have learned so much that it is 
now of little use to expect much of a bag with 
anything but the best of modern guns and am- 
munition. And these do not fully balance the 
increased distance at which most shots must be 
made, so that careful " leading " or shooting far 
enough ahead of a crossing duck is becoming all 
the time more important. More care has to be 
taken, too, with blinds, while the decoys to 
which ducks would readily pitch thirty years 
ago would now drive half the ducks out of a 
pond. The shooting is thus becoming more of 
a science, — a game in which only the experi- 
enced can play. The tenderfoot has had his 
day. It was a great one, for never was there 
more easy work than among the great masses 
of ducks that poured upon our sunny plains 
in winter. But the granger with his grand- 
father's gun gave up some years ago, and the 
tenderfoot, even with the most modern equip- 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 529 

ments, is little better off until schooled by many 
a day of disappointment. 

OCCASIONAL DUCKS 

Like most parts of the East, the Pacific Coast 
abounds in ducks rarely found in sufficient num- 
bers to make special shooting even where large 
enough, but which mixed with other ducks are 
sometimes worth shooting. But some ducks seem 
wholly wanting here or, if on the coast at all, are 
very rare and remain most of the time in the 
North. Such is the black or dusky duck, such 
a fine bird on the Atlantic Coast. The golden- 
eye, a good duck on certain kinds of feed, I have 
never seen here and cannot find any one who has, 
though it would be strange if a duck so widely 
distributed were completely missing on this whole 
coast. As ducks from the great basin between 
the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada go 
down the Colorado each winter, and as it is but 
a short flight across from the Rio Grande, and, 
for a duck, no trip from there to the head waters 
of many streams leading into the Gulf of Mexico, 
and as most of the ducks at the mouth of the 
Colorado summer on the Pacific Coast, returning 
by way of Cape St. Lucas, or crossing the moun- 
tain ranges of southern California, it would be 
strange if all the inland ducks of the United 
States were not represented in some way on this 



530 The Water-fowl Family 

coast. The same may be said of the blue-bill 
and the blue-winged teal. They ought to be 
here, but as far as I can learn they are not. 

But about all the rest of the buffle-head ducks 
besides the golden-eye are here, many of them 
fair ducks, deficient only in size. There are 
apparently several varieties, though most all may 
be only variations from one or two, or possibly 
hybrids. There is a great variation in the wid- 
geon on this coast, much greater than I know 
of elsewhere, and so extensive as to puzzle one 
who is not a good naturalist. Dr. Coues says 
there are some fifty varieties of hybrid ducks, and 
that some of them are fertile. Whatever the 
reason, there are some ducks here that I cannot 
exactly name, and much better naturalists are 
puzzled about some of them. 

But there is no ground for mistake about the 
little ruddy duck. It is but a short time since 
he was despised by all as too small and too tame 
and, by many, associated with the fish-ducks. 
Even to-day he does not count as a duck in the 
records of some of the clubs. Yet if you can find 
him flying over some strip of land from one pond 
to another, he will drive at you like a base-ball 
from the hand of the pitcher. You will then find 
your hands quite full to hold the gun far enough 
ahead, as with wings hazy with speed and making 
little or no effort to avoid you one cleaves the 



The PVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 531 

strongest breeze as if it were play. And when 
one comes directly at you, or but a few points off 
the direct course, the way he can be behind you 
before you can pull the trigger is one of the 
funny experiences of duck-shooting. 

All the mergansers or sawbills, fish-ducks, 
sheldrakes, divers, dippers, etc., seem fully repre- 
sented here, with some varieties I never saw else- 
where. So of the scoters or surf ducks, which, 
in places like the head of the Gulf of California, 
may be seen by the acre in winter. They all 
brighten the landscape, but I have not yet found 
any of the tribe worth cooking and none that 
would be attractive for one who loves shooting 
that demands high skill. 

On the whole, what we lose in the black duck 
and some others, and in the evening and morn- 
ing flights of old days on the prairie, is more than 
compensated for on this coast by the length of 
the season and the greater number of bright, 
warm days on which we can hunt without dis- 
comfort, by the absence of howling winds and 
freezing waters, with less voracious mud but 
firmer shores and quick transition from one to 
the other instead of long, slow wading. 



532 The IVater-fowl Family 



II 

THE GEESE 

No one who once hunted the wild goose ever 
again used the expression " tame as a goose." If 
there is any bird for which the hunter has an 
unbounded respect, it is the goose, for in pro- 
portion to its numbers he can generally bag 
less than of almost any other bird except the 
whooping crane and the sand-hill crane. And 
few things so amaze even the expert on other 
birds as to lie hidden on some fine flyway with 
an average of a hundred geese a minute passing 
for two or three hours, and see every one that 
rises over the horizon headed right for his gun 
sheer off just enough to make it hopeless about 
the instant he is ready to pull the trigger. He 
changes his opinion about the goose being tame, 
clumsy, or slow, and concludes he is quite worthy 
of his best efforts. 

Both by nature and art this coast seems spe- 
cially made for the goose. With endless breeding- 
grounds in the far North, and in the South vast 
sweeps of plain and slope carpeted soon after the 
first good rains with burr-clover and alfileria that 
make the richest of feed, with ponds and lagoons 
shimmering in the bright sun of winter in which 



The ^Vater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 533 

he could lounge away the middle of the day, his 
home was quite ideal. And when thousands of 
acres of grain began to shine upon the plain it 
only meant for many a year more feed and more 
geese. Hence the goose was found here, espe- 
cially in California, in numbers quite incredible 
even to those who saw geese in Minnesota and 
Illinois forty years ago. As late as 1875 the 
plains and slopes about Los Angeles were dotted 
as far as I could see, not with geese, but with 
flocks of them. It was the same down through 
the handsome plains of Orange County and down 
the coast table-lands through Santa Margarita and 
far into Lower California. In the San Joaquin 
Valley they covered thousands of acres of huge 
lakes like Tulare, while the sloughs and ponds 
in the sinks of the different streams shook be- 
neath myriads of wings. Where the grain-fields 
covered tens of thousands of acres, as in the 
Sacramento Valley and Lower San Joaquin, bands 
of armed horsemen were regularly employed to 
scare them off the grain by riding about and 
shooting at them, until "goose cavalry" became 
almost as much a part of a huge grain ranch as 
the threshing-machine. 

THE CANADA GOOSE 

Chief among them all was the Canada goose 
or " honker," robed in gray and dusky hues with 



534 T^b^ PVater-fowl Family 

the white collar of his tribe, and apparently the 
same as the goose of the Atlantic states or the 
prairie. Out of the far northern sky he drifted 
upon us in long, wedge-shaped masses, crescents, 
and converging lines, with* the mellow " honk," 
so penetrating yet so sweet, falling from almost 
every quarter of the warm sky by day and at 
night so thrillingly near it almost made you 
clutch the gun in sleep. The sun rose upon 
him standing in groups where the golden violets 
were starring the greensward, waddling about 
where the little baby-blue eyes were peering 
sweetly out of the springing wild oats, or feed- 
ing where the delicate crimson of the purslane 
tempered the brilliant green of the malva. Here 
comrades from the distant ponds where they had 
spent the night were joining him, with stiff-set 
wings lowering them down long inclines to the 
tune of innumerable throats, and there some that 
had fed early were rising with obstreperous 
wing to go back to the lake for the morning. 
And what a sight that lake often was about 
the middle of the morning ! Even on such small 
ponds as the laguna back of the ranch house at 
Santa Margarita, covering scarcely eighty acres, it 
was a sight that took me there many a day, though 
I had so much game all the time I cared nothing 
for shooting at any special kind. Between nine 
and ten in the morning the geese began to swing 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 535 

into sight over the verdant table-lands and plains, 
with many a silvery " honk," rolling in from every 
quarter of the horizon. High in air they floated 
with ease, quite wondrous for bodies so heavy, 
and still more charming was the grace with which 
they drifted down a thousand feet or more to the 
water. There was none of the rushing and hiss- 
ing of wings with which ducks descend from on 
high, but the whole movement was one of vast 
dignity well worthy of the grand scale on which 
it was performed, and of the background of land 
and sky that alone made the fairest of pictures. 
Sometimes a dozen flocks would be coming in 
at once, but all seemed conscious of doing 
some very solemn act, for, from the time each 
flock decided to settle to the water, every ringing 
throat was hushed and every wing changed to 
slower stroke, with all stiff-set at times. Some 
flocks came nearly over the edge of the pond 
before lowering, while others began as far back as 
a mile or more; but in all respects the action of 
geese alighting in water at this time of day is 
totally different from their alighting on the ground, 
and often as different from their settling into the 
water at night to roost. 

Here came a flock in a long, spiral line, starting 
almost over the centre of the pond and curling 
down like a winding staircase, with every wing 
motionless as the throats that but a moment ago 



536 The IVater-fowl Family 

were so melodious in the sky; there, another 
band a hundred strong in a long line end fore- 
most and winding like a snake out of the blue, 
every wing so still it seemed as if the motion 
must be due to the constant changing of the 
reverse curves, yet with the whole lowering 
slowly, certainly, and silently toward the centre 
of the pond. Others were in the wedge-shaped 
masses or converging lines in which they thread 
the upper sky on long flights, but the same rule 
prevailed in all, general silence and a slow drifting 
downward to the water as gently as a snowflake, 
often skimming along its surface for several yards, 
with every wing outstretched before lowering the 
black feet, raising the black head, and throwing 
back the big, gray wings for the final splash. 

Yet with all this abundance that covered acres 
of water almost solid with geese, in an hour or 
two it was no easy matter to get one, even long 
before the tenderfoot with his cheap gun, the 
market shooter with his barrels of ammunition, 
or big-bag swine without the excuse of the 
market shooter, had made them far wilder. A 
shot with the gun from anywhere along the edge 
of the pond was next to impossible, and it was 
scarcely any better when they flew out, for a 
goose can climb high in air quite rapidly for so 
large a bird, and he knew enough to do it. Any 
kind of a blind in the water at once aroused their 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 537 

suspicions, and they came in so high that even a 
floating battery would have been seen by most of 
them. By having a few small floats and sticks 
out in the water, at distances already tested with 
the rifle, I had some fine shooting from a patch of 
brush on one bank ; but at every shot the whole 
pond shook with a heavy roar of wings, and I had 
to wait for a new lot, which would alight, probably, 
in a different place. As the shooting was rarely 
under three hundred yards, and the aim had to be 
taken at a single goose, there was no certainty 
about it, even with globe-sights. But it made 
elegant rifle shooting, and there is no way in 
which such fine fun may be had with the goose 
This could then be done in any of the larger 
ponds, and at almost any time of day one could 
get plenty of shots at geese out on the plains, — 
though you had no way of fixing the distance, 
which kept ever changing. 

Though I have known the goose forty years, 
and seen him in the wildest places, I have never 
seen the time when one on foot could approach 
within shot-gun range except under some kind of 
cover. Once in a long while a flock seems stupid, 
so that some may be killed with a long shot, but 
the rule is quite the other way. And even a 
blind from which to shoot along one of their lines 
of flight must be something natural if it shows 
above ground. And a cut or gully is better even 



53^ The PVater-fowl Family 

than a bush, of which they soon become shy when 
there is much shooting out of them. Nor have I 
ever seen the time when it was safe to show much 
of your hat, while a few inches of shining gun 
moved a Httle so as to have it ready, were always 
quite certain to make geese sheer off just a little 
too much. Equally fatal was too much craning 
of your neck to see if they were coming, and too 
much wiggling about to get in just the right posi- 
tion for the supreme moment. I always found 
the best results from keeping perfectly still until 
the heavy wiff^ "^iff-, "^iff of wings was just over 
me, and then depend upon quickness in springing 
into position to shoot. 

In most places a natural blind and without de- 
coys will no longer do, and one must dig a pit in 
the ground and have plenty of decoys, though this 
is tame beside the other way. Like any shooting 
that becomes too easy one soon tires of it, but it 
is now the only sure way to get a goose. Such 
methods as shooting from a wagon with horses in 
full run are no longer possible, for the goose will 
not allow a wagon to come near enough for the 
final dash. But for warming up the inner thrill 
department it had no equal. It needed only a 
light wagon with a pair of lively mustangs used 
to the badger-holes of the plain, with a fearless 
driver and a man with the gun that could stay in 
the wagon and shoot at the same time. The 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 539 

wagon was driven along on the windward side 
with no one looking at geese or even talking 
about geese. As they were rarely shot at from a 
wagon or horse, it was easy to get within seventy 
yards or so. The team was then suddenly wheeled 
and sent in wildest run directly at them. As geese 
almost always rise against the wind, the few sec- 
onds lost in getting under way often brought the 
bouncing wagon directly under a flapping and 
honking huddle of black, white, and gray, thump- 
ing the air in all directions. To land one with 
each barrel without landing on your head behind 
the wagon was the main problem, while sometimes 
the next question was whether the driver would 
be able to stop the horses while anything was left 
of the wagon. 

THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 

Less imposing in size and voice than the Can- 
ada goose, the white-fronted goose is still an im- 
portant element everywhere in goose-shooting and 
nowhere more so than on the Pacific Coast. Here, 
as in the Western states, he is called " brant " or 
"gray brant," to distinguish him from the dark 
brant of the sea-coast. But he is not a brant, 
cares almost nothing for salt water, but loves the 
plain rolling afar in all the wavy lines of light the 
sun can weave on undulating green, especially 
where some bright gem of a lake bestuds it§ 



540 The IVater-fowl Family 

sweeping breadth. This goose is found in vast 
numbers in California in winter, covering much 
the same range as the Canada goose, while his 
" clank-a-lank " often rings from the upper sky- 
even before the deep-toned "honk" heralds the 
approach of the time for rain. Like the larger 
goose he fails to get as fat here as he does on the 
corn-fields of the prairie, though the grass and 
grain-fields on which he feeds fatten cattle and 
horses fast enough. Yet he is a good bird in 
spite of it and always worth shooting. But this 
is no easy matter, for he understands the gun 
about as well as his larger cousin, can wheel even 
more quickly and get under way with less trouble. 
He is a little more apt to make a mistake about 
the range of a gun, but you can never rely on his 
doing so. So that about the same general methods 
must be used as with the larger goose. When 
this goose alights on land he acts somewhat like 
other geese, but when he alights in water his 
style is wholly his own, and few things are more 
amazing than the number of people who have 
hunted geese without ever seeing this wild play. 
His coming is told afar by clangorous notes, 
heard even before the line of dark dots rises against 
the sky out of the horizon. Instead of lowering 
toward the water the geese only seem to rise 
higher into the vault of blue. On they come, 
perhaps two hundred strong, and a thousand feet 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 541 

or more high, when they suddenly slow up for a 
moment as if to assure themselves that they are 
over the centre of the pond. Then the edge of 
the line begins to break off, for birds are suddenly 
tumbling, whirling, pitching, falling in all sorts of 
lines and motions. Head first, tail first, it makes 
no difference which way they start, for in a mo- 
ment they are whirling over into some new posi- 
tion, on their backs with tips of wings pointed 
skyward, then standing in air with tail down and 
wings still skyward as if outstretched in prayer, 
then as suddenly darting off on one side in a long, 
swooping curve, every one in a grand go-as-you- 
please somersault and the whole line whirling 
to the water. With wondrous quickness the one 
that first comes within ten yards of the water 
rights himself and sets his wings, the next wheels 
over and falls into line beside him, then another 
and another until perhaps the whole flock are 
drifting solemnly over the face of the water with 
every ringing throat now hushed. A few rods 
they sail almost touching the water, when they 
gently raise their heads, lower their tails, lift their 
wings, drop their feet, and with a soft swish they 
are at rest. 

THE SNOW GOOSE 

The snow goose, commonly called" white brant" 
to distinguish it from the white-fronted goose or 
" gray brant, " often seems more numerous on the 



542 The IVater-fowl Family 

Pacific Coast than either of the other geese. It 
often gathers in flocks so large that when stream- 
ing over the wavy green of the plain with some 
huge mountain for a background it almost matches 
the line of snow upon its crest. When standing 
on the green it often looks as if acres were drifted 
over with snow, while its clamorous pipe adds to 
the music that day and night vibrates between 
earth and sky. Its flesh is dark and not quite so 
good as that of the other geese, but when fairly fat 
it is still a very good bird. It is game to the very 
last, puzzling even the expert to bag in any fair 
way, while the tenderfoot can easily see millions 
in a day without pocketing one. Its mode of life 
and travel is much the same as that of the other 
geese, with which it is often in company, and the 
ways of shooting it are alike. 

The snow goose is fairest when alighting in 
water, where his manner is quite unique. He too 
comes in high in air as if he would cross the pond. 
But as it nears the edge the flock lengthens and 
then rises in front until it hangs in a column at 
an angle of fifty or sixty degrees with the level of 
the water. Then, with every black-tipped wing 
thrown forward and downward in a rigid curve, 
and every snowy body parallel to the inclination 
of the column, each bird floats downward as softly 
as the streamers of fire from a rocket. How bodies 
so heavy can so hang in air and preserve such 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 543 

perfect rigidity during several minutes of descent, 
drifting perhaps a thousand feet while falling as 
far, yet without the slightest break in the ranks or 
any breach of their vast dignity, is one of the great 
puzzles of nature. Time and again in the Western 
states I have seen all the geese alight in water, 
but only in California have I seen all three at once, 
not in hundreds but by thousands, all descend- 
ing into a circle of a few hundred acres. Such 
was a common sight in winter before the rapid set- 
tlement of the southern plains and slopes, and 
whether viewed from the water's edge or from 
some hill half a mile away was a sight equally 
wild and wonderful. 

OCCASIONAL GEESE 

Mingled with the larger geese are often some 
small ones, but rarely in any quantity and generally 
mere occasional specimens. But one of them, the 
smaller Canada goose or "little honker," is some- 
times found in bunches of some size. This is not 
much more than half the size of the large goose, 
though apparently of the same color and markings, 
and is probably Hutchins' goose. Yet it varies 
enough in size to indicate two varieties. 

That there are two varieties of the snow goose 
and probably three here is quite certain. They 
are much smaller than the regular snow goose, one 
of them looking more like a duck. The latter is 



544 The IVater-fowl Family 

so rare it may be an abnormal specimen. Neither 
of these is common, and one might see geese all 
winter without seeing one of these kinds. 

The same may be said of the white-fronted goose. 
I have seen some of them little over half size, but 
they are so rare that one might hunt all winter 
without suspecting the existence of one. 

THE SALT-WATER GOOSE OR BLACK BRANT 

All the geese so far mentioned are lovers of the 
plain and its fresh-water ponds. They are grass 
and grain eaters and love the water mainly as a 
place of rest. Hence they have little to do with 
the salt water, though in travelling they often swing 
out to sea. But there is one of the family that 
loves the sounding brine so well he will have 
almost nothing to do with the shore. Even on 
the beach itself he will not set his chary foot if it 
is dry, and rarely even when it is still wet from the 
receding tide. This is the black brant {bernicula 
nigricans)^ — not the brant of the Atlantic Coast, 
which is of much the same general coloring. The 
latter is not found on this coast, while bernicula 
nigricans is almost wholly wanting on the Atlantic. 
It is the most gamy of all our water-fowl and 
generally the finest flavored, the slight marine 
flavor being like the oyster instead of fishy. This 
brant seems well aware of the esteem in which he 
is held and is very shy in his southern visits to 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 545 

the land of the gun. Breeding far in the North in 
great numbers, he spends most of the winter along 
the upper coast, visiting California only at particu- 
lar places. Tomales Bay, near San Francisco, and 
one or two points above are stopping-places, but 
I can find no record of his entering San Francisco 
Bay, though thronged by all other water-fowl. 
From there he skips all the small bays, inlets, 
and estuaries until he reaches False Bay, a small 
bay three miles above San Diego Bay. In San 
Diego Bay he made his principal winter home, but 
was found again at San Quentin, nearly two hun- 
dred miles south, after skipping all between. Then 
after passing another long space he appears at 
Magdalena Bay in Lower California (Mexico), 
below which I can find no trace of him. 

Why this avoidance of scores of places appar- 
ently as good as those at which he stops .? And 
why is he not seen there even occasionally.? 
Why does he not stop even for an hour to rest his 
wing weary with long wandering } Yet he will not 
stop, even in the night when he does his travelling. 
And year after year passes without even his 
voice being heard on bays as large as False Bay 
and even more free from the hunter, or on inlets 
and sloughs by the score where the tide brings 
all the food he can want and large enough to be 
safe for the wary Canada goose. Yet this little 
wanderer disdains them all, despises the woof of 

2N 



546 The IVater-fowl Family 

green and gold threaded with crimson and blue 
the rains are weaving over the sunny land to the 
joy of his cousins, and delights only in the tum- 
bling wave where the beds of kelp have tempered 
its roughness. He will not even fly over a point 
of land if he can go around it without too much 
detour, while a few hundred yards of dry ground 
seem an absolute bar to his passage. 

What there is about San Diego Bay that 
pleases this dainty child of the North I never 
could divine, but the best shooting on the finest of 
American water-fowl could be had every day 
when I first went there. The shooting from the 
shore was especially fine because the sand-spit 
that forms the bay widens out into the two 
bodies of land forming Coronado Beach. These 
were almost divided by Spanish Bight, which ran 
almost to the ocean, leaving a small strip of sand 
a few yards wide. This was the only bit of land 
about this bay over which the birds would fly, 
and over this they streamed in countless thou- 
sands at every turning of the tide, following the 
bight to the bay, thus saving several miles of 
detour by the mouth of the harbor. 

It seems but a few years since San Diego Bay 
in winter was a sight for the gods. Almost un- 
known to the hunter, it was alive with water-fowl 
from the time the first fleece of the storm-cloud 
flecked the blue of the summer sky till the nest- 



The PVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 547 

ing call of the quail rang from the sumac on 
Coronado Beach. From the long wharf you 
could see the divers catch fish in the clear 
water beneath, while canvas-backs and mallards 
merely swam out of your way. Snowy pelicans 
fishing in revolving chains cut the water and rose 
in air, little terns dived from on high in all direc- 
tions, while gulls of every kind drifted about your 
head or sat lazily on the piles to inspect you. 
But it was not the shag or merganser that 
floated everywhere on the untroubled waters, or 
the frigate-bird so softly sailing over the blue 
mirror that then knew nothing of sewers, that 
attracted your attention. The eye was quickly 
riveted on acres of black dotted with white that 
lay far out upon the water in strict exclusiveness, 
and from which came a muffled " wah — 00k " like 
the distant babel of frogs. No sign did these 
dark dots give of any communion with the rest 
of the feathered tribes, and they especially dis- 
dained all those silly enough to allow man to look 
at them. 

Out in the ocean thousands more were riding 
the lazy swell of the kelp, but all as quiet as those 
in the bay. Not a wing was raised on either 
water unless you were weak enough to think you 
could shoot one from a boat. Then, long before 
you were within reach with the best gun, they 
rose with the quickness of ducks and spun away 



548 The PVater-fowl Family 

like arrows of jet feathered with Hght. About 
the size of the snow goose, they were far quicker 
and more graceful, their flight unlike that of any- 
other goose, their stroke of wing almost as rapid as 
that of the mallard. But their flight was farther 
than that of any duck, their alighting more 
cautious, only far out upon the water and never 
upon the shore or near it. 

Peace broods over even the largest bands while 
the tide is flowing. But almost from the moment 
it begins to ebb, excitement ripples through 
the dark ranks. Far down the shimmering face 
of the bay long, dark strings begin to rise out of 
the sheets of black, while lines of black dots loom 
on the horizon of the great, peaceful sea. Yet all 
this implies nothing for you unless you well know 
their slippery ways, for even from an early day no 
bird knew better the swinish nature of man, and 
no water-fowl has kept as rapid pace with his im- 
provements in rooting up all that is fair in nature's 
garden. Hence as early as 1875 it was quite 
impossible to get a shot at the black brant from 
a boat, quite as much so to get a shot from the 
shore unless well concealed, and very difficult 
even then without decoys to lure them near 
enough to the shore. And anything like the 
wabbling duck decoys of that day would be seen 
through at once by the keen eyes that sparkled 
In the black heads. As it was useless to expect 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 549 

any of the birds to fly over the land, this bhnd had 
to be near the water, where anything conspicuous 
would be suspicious. A box sunk in the mud 
with a very light fringe of seaweed was the only 
sure thing, and even from this it was unsafe to 
show a corner of your hat or an inch too much of 
gun. Even this did not last long, and by 1883 a 
floating battery out in the water was about the 
only thing that could deceive them, as they do not 
fly very high. And by 1890 most of them had 
ceased to trust their judgment about the safety 
even of open water, and forsook San Diego Bay 
for the more quiet waters of Mexico. 

Yet it seems but yesterday that the dark lines 
of birds rose over the narrow sand-spit that sepa- 
rated Spanish Bight from the ocean, sending a 
strange thrill even through nerves that had gazed 
unmoved on the mightiest hordes of other water- 
fowl the North could send down before the days 
of the breech-loader. And soon a dark haze 
began to appear on each side of the dark dots of 
which the line was composed, changing quickly 
into the quivering of jet-black wings mingled 
with flashes of light from white collars around 
swarthy throats. Yet hardly did we dare look at 
them, but lay crouching low in the box, waiting 
for the hiss of sailing wings to tell us they were 
nearing the decoys. Yet rarely would they do so 
at first, but on they swept in ranks sometimes two 



550 The IVater-fowl Family 

hundred strong, three hundred yards or more 
beyond the decoys, making a grand display of 
snowy underwear, in contrast with their jetty 
robes, as they passed. But vainly we looked for 
them to turn ; a suspicious " waa — ook " came from 
a few throats, and on went the line in tremulous 
black and white until it faded in the glimmer on 
the face of the water far down the bay. 

But that was nothing, for scores and even hun- 
dreds of such flocks were sure to follow them in 
the next two hours, and not long did we have to 
wait after the turn of the tide before another line 
of dark dots was strung along the western sky. 
And soon there was a soft ^j-j-i-i-^-, sss, of sailing 
feathers, but just a little too far to justify raising 
a head or moving a gun. But the silence among 
the black throats showed that they had taken no 
alarm, and it was better to give them a chance to 
swing, for they seldom alight at the first approach 
to the decoys. Two hundred yards past they 
sailed with occasional beat of wing, when the 
line turned and back they came with every sail 
set and the air singing beneath them as they rode 
down an invisible slope directly toward the decoys. 
Yet, again, they were suspicious and turned for 
an upward flight, but they had swung in closer to 
the shore, and quickly we turned the guns upon 
them. Instantly the long sailing line was turned 
into a flapping huddle of white and black, with 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 551 

each white-collared neck aimed upward and out- 
ward, mounting the resounding air at a pace that 
left us but a moment to get the gun into position. 
And a good gun it had to be, for these quick 
geese shed shot like hail unless very strongly 
driven, and even then they often carry it far out 
into the open water, settling into it in a long, 
drifting flight that shows no sign of death. 

THE SWAN 

While the goose was yet comparatively easy of 
approach and the mallard still a child of simplicity 
in California, the wild swan seemed to know that 
his size and rarity made him a mark for the great 
white spoiler, so that he alighted only in the larger 
ponds, kept well out in the middle, and mounted 
the breeze in hot haste when a man came near 
with a gun. But with all his shrewdness he dis- 
liked to change his course when once under full 
headway, so that if another man were concealed 
along the line of flight he was likely to take for 
another lake, the swan was too apt to rely on 
speed of wing to get past the danger, if discov- 
ered, rather than swerve enough from it in time. 
This is about the only way one can rely on getting 
a swan with the shot-gun, for they are everywhere 
rare as compared with other water-fowl. A good, 
long-range rifle-shot may occasionally get one, 
but you will find the game sitting a long way out 



552 The JVater-fowl Family 

in the water and not at all given to allowing sight- 
ing shots. He is, however, given to nervousness 
that may affect his wings about the time you raise 
the rifle. He is quite solitary in his habits, has 
nothing to do with geese or ducks, comes late and 
goes north early, and thousands of sportsmen have 
never even seen the swan. 

With most people who hunt water-fowl it is the 
height of ambition to kill a swan — the stupidest 
ambition one can have. I recovered early ; never 
shot but two, and may Heaven forgive me for that. 
Too tough and dry to eat, there is no excuse for 
murdering such a rare and beautiful bird simply 
because it is big. It is worth a thousand times 
more in air than in the bag, for, contrary to popu- 
lar impression, it is an elegant flyer. Not one in 
a hundred seeing it in full career, even at short 
range, would suspect what it is. Its great size 
diminishes in lines of perfect grace, the long neck 
is drawn in without any awkward curves, every- 
thing is in perfect proportion ; and, cleaving the 
air at a pace few of the ducks can surpass, its 
speed helps out the proportion while the harmony 
of the whole is well maintained by a stroke of wing 
so rapid that the stranger is apt to take it for some 
albino duck. While pure game in all its ways, and 
deemed by all a legitimate game-bird, the swan 
should nevertheless be placed upon the list of harm- 
less and beautiful birds that no one should kill. 



The Heater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 553 

THE SAND-HILL CRANE 

The same man who is crazy to shoot a swan 
will probably curl his nose in high disdain at 
your intimation that the sand-hill crane is a 
game-bird of the first class. He confounds him 
with the herons, bitterns, egrets, and other fish 
eaters, and does not know that he is almost 
entirely graminivorous like the goose, although, 
in a different way, he too loves the water. When 
on good grass or grain the sand-hill crane is 
almost the equal in flavor of the turkey and 
under almost any circumstances is better than a 
poor duck of any kind. As a mark that will try 
your utmost care to get even within sure rifle-shot 
of, he is surpassed only by his great white cousin, 
the whooping-crane, and the wild turkey. The 
whooping-crane is not found on this coast or any- 
where west of the Rocky Mountains, as far as I 
can learn. Every kind of water-fowl from the 
great basin between the Rocky Mountains and 
the Sierra Nevada winters on the Colorado River, 
especially at its mouth. But even there I could 
not find the whooping-crane, though the common 
sand-hill was in great numbers. And men who 
have run boats on the lower river for thirty years 
have never seen the big white sand-hill, or whoop- 
ing, crane. 

But the common sand-hill of bluish gray or 



554 The PVater-fowl Family 

ashy blue is one of the finest judges of human 
nature, and rarely lapses into one of those fits of 
idiocy that sometimes make even the turkey fall 
an easy victim to the tenderfoot. Circling near 
midday in the topmost blue, and sending down 
at intervals a long, vibrating note almost as pene- 
trating and hard to locate as the rippling music 
that falls from the upland plover, he seems to be- 
long only to the sky. Equally hopeless seems the 
attempt to get a shot when he starts on his travels. 
High in air he still floats along, disdaining all 
country where fences and houses show elbow- 
room growing scarce. A true lover of the wild 
and free, he even scorns country still Vv^ild enough 
for the goose and, trusting to his untiring wing, 
will go hungry for another five hundred miles to 
enjoy the grand sweep of some plain too big for 
man to mar. When the sand-hill crane is travel- 
ling in flocks of fifty to a hundred and fifty or 
more, with flock after flock mingling its strange 
call with one just passing over, the man who 
thought it a common heron is apt to find a string 
within tuned in unison with that wild tremolo. 
His anxiety to secure one is tripled when he sees 
band after band on the sunlit plain, some stand- 
ing on the flowery knolls, others strolling across 
the greener swales, with others feeding where the 
plain rolls broad and free. Such was a common 
sight in California in winter up to a few years ago. 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 555 

Not merely thousands but hundreds of thousands 
dotted the great plains, often looking in the dis- 
tance like bands of sheep. 

But as far back as 1875 this wild rover of the 
blue knew all about guns. Once in a great while 
a flock might neglect to consider a gully in the 
plain or a belt of reeds near some lake, so that 
one could sneak within rifle-shot. But I never 
yet succeeded in crawling within sure shot-gun 
range, though there is, of course, ground on which 
it may be done. But even a sure shot with the 
rifle was rare, no matter how plenty the birds ; 
and though the plain might ring for many a mile 
with their reverberating notes, one shot was quite 
sure to clear the whole stage for a mile or more 
and send the actors to rest in long, curling lines 
far in the dome of heaven. 

There are certain lines on which the cranes 
often swing low along the plain in making short 
changes of feeding-ground or in going to water, 
and the surprise of the sportsman is rarely greater 
than when he attempts a bag by hiding along this 
line in some bush or gully. Just as that wild cry 
rolls thrillingly near and you move the gun a 
trifle to get it ready or twist your eye a bit to see 
how close they are, there is a sudden sheering off 
in the line, and the bodies that seemed so large 
that their momentum must carry them within 
shot are far out of reach on wings nimble enough 



556 The Heater-fowl Family 

to astonish you. If this does not make you feel 
you are deahng with a game-bird, watch the num- 
ber of those that, far away, are headed straight for 
you yet drift away to one side or the other long 
before reaching your place of hiding. You will 
find the number too great to be accidental, and if 
you watch from another point, you will find they 
are doing little sheering after you are gone. 

It seems absurd to say that any birds could see 
the sheen of a gun or a few inches of hat and 
recognize danger in them at so great a distance. 
Yet you will lose shot after shot if you make the 
slightest motion in craning your neck or shifting 
the gun. And you lose many a one, even when 
you keep perfectly still. The only approach to 
certainty I ever found was to lie in some cut or 
break in the ground face downward and with the 
gun underneath completely covered, without try- 
ing to look up or squint in any way, lying there 
in perfect patience till the sound of wings over- 
head told it was too late for the game to swing 
aside. Then such a jump as never was, and if I 
landed on my feet without losing my grip on the 
gun, there was a chance for a double shot into the 
wildest medley of laboring wings, long shining 
beaks, and clamorous throats. 



The IVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 557 
III 

THE WADERS AND SHORE-BIRDS 

The great family of birds that love the wet, 
salt shore has a wonderful representation on the 
Pacific Coast, but on account of the abundance 
of ducks and quail in midwinter they have not 
been appreciated, as they long have been on the 
Atlantic Coast. The tenderfoot and the farmer's 
boy have reduced their numbers in some places, 
but the host is still large enough to afford infinite 
shooting for those who know how to take it. 
Every shore of every bay and inlet used to be 
dotted all winter with waders, so that a bag of a 
hundred or more was easy on the ebb of any 
tide. Enough yet remain to amuse any one who 
cares little about the size of the bag. Near the 
shore little brown plover trotted over the green- 
ing plains after the first rains of winter, with 
many a curlew keeping him company, and they 
often wandered miles back upon the slopes. 
Where the ground was damp enough for worms, 
Wilson's snipe, with all his charming manners, was 
quite sure to be found. He has developed his 
erratic ways and risen to the emergency created 
by new guns and powders until he is now about 
the most elusive little thing on earth. You can 



558 The IVater-fowl Family 

get good shooting on him in August on his 
breeding-grounds around Klamath Lake, and 
from then until April can find him at his best 
in many parts of California. 

Nearly all that is fair and lovely in the com- 
bination of sunshine and birds finds its climax 
at the mouth of the Colorado River. It is one 
of the few places where all the birds that love 
the water and the shore can now find rest for 
their weary wings. It still lies in all its virgin 
simplicity, and a trip from Yuma, about one hun- 
dred and sixty miles, will well repay the time 
and cost to those who love something far beyond 
the orbit of the tenderfoot. It can be done by 
wagon, but a canoe should be carried, and a 
better way is by large boat down the river. A 
special excursion generally has to be made up 
at Yuma, where steamboats are available but no 
reliance can be placed on regular boats. There 
have been none since the railroad came to Yuma 
over twenty years ago. If there were, it might 
no longer be a trip worth taking. For the same 
reason you cannot kill much game, for you can- 
not even give it away. But any one who can 
truly appreciate such a scene at all is quite well 
satisfied in looking at the vast quantities of game 
he will there see. Birds continue down each side 
the Gulf of California wherever there are sloughs 
or inlets for ducks and s^eese, while the shore- 



The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 559 

birds are plenty all along the open shore. Hence, 
as far down as Guaymas and below, duck-shoot- 
ing may be had all winter. 

This whole gulf is the winter home of myriads 
of birds that breed in the great basin between 
the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. 
Many winter in Arizona and along the Colorado, 
but the great rendezvous is at the mouth of the 
river and from there down each shore. These 
birds are joined by myriads more that cross the 
mountains of southern California. In the wet 
meadows on the top of San Pedro Martir, two 
hundred miles in Lower California below the 
American line, I have found plenty of ducks in 
September six thousand feet above the sea. This 
was but ten miles from the eastern rim, three 
thousand feet higher, over which the gulf shim- 
mers nearly two miles below. These ducks were 
no doubt waiting for colder weather to make the 
plunge. I could not determine whether they bred 
there or not. But ducks appear early on the 
ponds at five thousand feet on the mountains in 
southern California and then cross two hundred 
miles or more of perfect desert to the Colorado. 

I have several times found shore-birds crossing 
the desert by way of the Mojave River, — dry 
except at long intervals, — making for the Pacific 
Coast, while in spring large flocks of sand-hill 
cranes, swinging high over the mountains on their 



560 The IVater-fowl Family 

way from the mouth of the Colorado to the Pacific 
side, are a common sight. It seems quite as cer- 
tain that many of the vast army of waders and 
ducks at the mouth of the Colorado have made 
the entire trip of two thousand miles from San 
Diego around Cape St. Lucas and up the shores 
of the Gulf of California to its head. The fact 
that most of the waders must have made the 
trip on foot does not detract from its probability. 
For the birds are found on both sides of the gulf 
and all the way around the point of the peninsula 
of Lower California, and they do not breed there. 
Almost the whole of the way the land is perfect 
desert, on much of which no living thing is seen, 
or could exist without being seen, while on the 
parts that are not desert these birds seem equally 
unknown. At high tide they often go ashore, 
and in some places it is so high they have 
to ; but that is the only time they are ever known 
far from the water's edge, while in summer not 
one is seen even there, though the shore is lined 
with them in winter. 

From Yuma the Colorado winds through one 
of the most dangerous deserts of the w^orld. But 
for two or three miles from the river most of the 
land is extremely fertile from its overflow, while 
sloughs and branches extend this area much far- 
ther in places. But the banks are robed in 
timber that cuts off the view so much that some 



The IVafer-fowl of the Pacific Coast 561 

one in the party must know the country, or 
thousands of acres of the finest duck ground 
would He unsuspected. Near the river the land 
is very flat, and the mountains that lie so dreamily 
on the horizon are the boundaries of many a 
league of desert. Near its mouth the river widens 
out into great flats of fine alluvium that in the 
intensely dry air, dry even at the edge of the 
gulf, make the most marvellous mirage, which will 
show you — at shooting distance, too — all the 
little lakes filled with ducks, cranes, and snipe you 
want. On these flats you will find many waders 
driven from the shore by the great tide of this 
section and can bag all you wish, but the grand 
sight is on the salt shores when the tide is out. 
Miles up the mouth of the river snowy pelicans 
sailing high in great flocks warn you that you 
are nearing some large body of water, while sand- 
hill cranes floating far above them, ducks whiz- 
zing here and there, with geese whitening or 
darkening the horizon, tell you there is some 
feed in this country outside oi the salt shores. I 
have found sloughs here out of which the ducks 
and geese could not be driven by any amount of 
shooting, yet with hard bottoms, very uniform 
depth of water, and all the conditions for ideal 
shooting. In the immense reeds that lined all 
the water and grew far out into it, I had an end- 
less choice of blinds. So plenty was the game 



562 The PVater-fowl Family 

that we located it from the boat nearly two miles 
away by its noise, and when we reached the spot 
it was one continuous roar of wings and whiz 
of returning and circling birds. Every variety 
found on the coast was there, with sand-hill cranes, 
snipe, and plover in quantities like those of the 
olden time. This depends largely on the time 
and extent of the overflow. In some years and 
earlier in the season the sloughs would be larger 
as well as deeper and more numerous. Decem- 
ber is the best time, though any time during the 
winter will do. 

All birds seem to stay here long after the 
weather is warm enough farther north, with more 
and better feed, as far as man can see. Here on 
the mud-flats of the river the tall curlew, arrayed 
in brown and buff, wings his winding way on 
every hand, his sonorous call ringing from shore 
to shore; and there his long, curved bill explores 
the shore, with the avocet, in black and white, 
and bill curved up instead of down, matching him 
in his stately march to dinner. Far up and down 
the shore gleams the contrast of black and white 
on the turnstone, or oyster-catcher, as he plies his 
shorter bill among the larger shellfish, while the 
same colors on the stately stilt enlarge the dig- 
nity with which, on longer leg, he struts about 
among the grayer brethren. 

Phalaropes } If there ever were any, they are 



The PVater-fowl of the Pacific Coast 563 

all here in thousands of lines of gray and brown, 
threading the lines of white and black, ever wind- 
ing over miles of mud. Godwits by the hundred 
trot here and there, in tawny robes like those of 
the curlew, the difference in their straight bills 
being hardly noticeable at any great distance, 
while sandpipers of many sizes, in pepper-and- 
salt, gray, brown, and their various mixtures, scud 
here and there on legs filmy with speed or whisk 
about on nebulous wing. Here are noisy tattlers 
by the score, looking as happy as if these shores 
were all the world, rising into occasional flight 
and putting on great airs only to descend again 
to plain mud. And here are dowitchers by the 
thousand, looking often like the lovely Wilson's 
snipe to the eye of the tenderfoot, and sanderlings, 
whose black and ashy tints mingled with red, 
with their shorter bills and legs, make them look 
like plover and willets, with colors quite as gamy, 
but longer of leg and neck and more noisy. And 
mingled with these is the glossy ibis, whose dark 
greenish bronze shines so brightly in the strong 
sunlight that streams through this dry air; and 
the big white wood-ibis often rises into the vault 
of heaven, on sailing wing, to circle among the 
sand-hill cranes and pelicans, with even greater 
grace, as they look down upon the vast throng 
of birds that dot the shining mud for many a 
league. 



564 The Water-fowl Family 

When all these, with the herons, bitterns, and 
snowy egrets that winter here and the vast troops 
of ducks that, out on the gulf, cover thousands of 
acres or sweep in great clouds across the shim- 
mering surface, unite in the field of vision, even 
the tenderfoot will lay down his gun and look in 
amazement, while the expert will hardly think of 
taking it up. All ideas of shooting are lost when 
one looks down the miles of moving specks along 
the shore that twine and intertwine in a million 
curling lines, while from the water comes the roar 
of as many wings, all in one dark haze that shuts 
out the sky beyond. 



DIAGNOSES OF FAMILIES AND 
GENERA 

THE WATER-FOWL 

Class Aves. Order Anseres. The Lamellirostral Swimmers. (Swim- 
ming birds having toothlike serrations or lamellse on the bill.) Only 
one family in order : the Anatidcs — ducks, geese, and swans. 

Family Anatidae. Swimming birds usually of large size with short tails. 
Wings of moderate length, strong and pointed, giving vigorous and 
whistling flight. Bill covered with a leathery integument, with a hard 
nail at the tip and usually broad and flat. Short legs with the tibia 
almost buried in the feathers. Tarsus flattened. Anterior toes webbed ; 
hind toe always present but usually small. Praecocial young. There 
are five subfamilies found in North America — Mergina, Anaiina, 
Fuligulince, Anserincs, Cygnince. 

Subfamily Merginae. The Mergansers. Type: Neck shorter than body; 
tarsus shorter than middle toe without claw. Bill narrow, nearly cylin- 
drical, long, with hooked nail and toothlike serrations on cutting 
edge of upper mandible ; no lamellse on sides of lower mandible. 
Lores feathered. Tarsus with transverse scales in front; hind toe 
with a lobe. Sexes unlike. 

This subfamily contains three genera — Merganser, Lophodytes, 
and Mergus — and about nine species, of which most belong to the 
Northern hemisphere. They are birds of handsome plumage, fre- 
quent both fresh and salt water, feed chiefly on fish, which renders 
their flesh unpalatable, and some of them nest in hollow trees. 

Generic Types. Merganser. Length of bill three times its depth at base. 
Bill longer than head and than tarsus with very conspicuous toothlike 
serrations on both mandibles, which are inclined strongly backward. 
Head with a slight and pointed occipital crest. Tarsus about two-thirds 
as long as middle toe with claw. Tail about half as long as wing. 
Bill reddish. Two species of genus are found in North America. 

Lophodytes, Length of bill three times its depth at base. Bill 
shorter than head but longer than tarsus, with serrations on mandibles, 



566 The IVater-fowl Family 

short and blunt, not pointing backward. Crest of male large and 
semicircular. Tarsus about half as long as middle toe with claw. 
Tail more than half as long as wing. Bill black. One species in 
genus, confined to North America. 

Mergus. Length of bill about twice its depth at base. Bill shorter 
than head, also shorter than tarsus, with the serrations on mandibles 
as in Lophodytes, but smaller and more numerous. Crest as in Lopho- 
dytes, but smaller. Bill blackish. One species in genus, a native of 
the eastern hemisphere; accidental in North America. 

Subfamily Anatinse: The River-ducks. Type: Neck shorter than 
body. Tarsus shorter than middle toe, without claw. Bill broad, 
flattened, with toothlike nail ; the lower mandible with a series of 
lamellae on sides and on cutting edge. Lores feathered. Tarsus with 
transverse scales in front. Hind toe without a lobe. Sexes unlike. 
Wing usually with metallic speculum. 

This subfamily contains in North America nine genera, one of 
which only occurs as a straggler in Greenland, and sixteen species 
and subspecies. The males are birds of striking plumage, with usu- 
ally a metallic patch of feathers on the wing; the females much 
plainer. They frequent chiefly fresh water, live largely on vegetable 
food, and have, consequently, flesh of fine flavor. Most species nest 
on the ground. 

Generic Types. Anas. Bill about as long as head, broad, sides almost 
parallel, slightly widening toward tip. Culmen depressed in centre, 
rising toward base and tip. Lamellae of bill scarcely exposed. Specu- 
lum brilliant. Tail rounded, of pointed feathers. Three species and 
two subspecies found in North America. 

Chaulelasmus. Bill somewhat shorter than head, rather narrow, 
the sides parallel. Culmen slightly depressed in centre, level toward 
base and tip. Lamella; of bill plainly exposed. Speculum dull. Tail 
short and rounded, of pointed feathers. One species in genus, al- 
most cosmopolitan. 

Mareca. Bill as in Chaulelas?!ttis, but rising somewhat toward base. 
Lamellae only slightly exposed. Speculum of male bright. Tail pointed. 
Two species are found in North America, one only as a straggler (?). 
Nettion. Size very small. Bill shorter than head, very narrow, 
sides almost parallel. Culmen straight in terminal two-thirds, rising 
at base. Breadth of nail about one-fifth breadth tip of bill. The 
lamellae completely concealed. Speculum green ; no blue on wing. 
Nape with a small crest. Two species of this genus are found in North 
America, one only as a straggler. 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 567 

Querquedula. Size very small. Bill about as long as head, nar- 
row, but broader than in Nettion. Culmen rounding toward tip. 
Breadth of nail about one-third the breadth of tip of bill. Lamellse 
concealed. Speculum greenish. Blue on wing-coverts. Nape without 
a crest. Two species are found in North America. 

Casarca. Size about that of Anas. Sides of bill nearly straight. 
Culmen almost straight. Lamellae of bill distinctly exposed. Specu- 
lum bright. Plumage striking. One species of genus is a rare strag- 
gler to North America. 

Spatula. Bill much longer than head, narrow at base and very 
wide at tip (twice as wide at tip as at base), the edges of upper 
mandible hanging over the lower in the shape of a spoon, nail form- 
ing a hook. Lamellse many and entirely exposed. Tail short and 
pointed with sharply pointed feathers. Wing as in Querquedula. 
The one species found in North America occurs throughout the 
northern hemisphere. 

Dafila. Neck very long. Bill as in Mareca, about three times as 
long as wide. Tail wedge-shaped, with sharply pointed feathers ; in 
adult male two central feathers projecting far beyond the rest. 
Speculum of male brilliant, of female dull. The one species found in 
North America occurs throughout the northern hemisphere. 

Aix. Bill shorter than head, very high at base, depressed toward 
tip. Nail very large and much curved. Lamellae few. Base of maxilla 
extending on side of head nearly to eye. Male with a large crest of 
silky feathers, female with a small crest. Tail feathers broad and 
rounded at tip. One species found in North America. 
Subfamily Fuligulinae. The Sea-ducks. Type: similar to the 
Anatiiice, but hind toe with a membranous lobe. Feet larger, and 
legs placed farther back. Wing usually without metallic speculum. 

This family contains in North America thirteen genera and twenty- 
four species, of which one is believed to be extinct. One genus only 
occurs as a straggler, and another only reaches the coast of Texas 
except as a wanderer. Like the AnaiincB, the males are birds of 
handsome plumage, the females usually much plainer. They fre- 
quent chiefly salt water, gathering sometimes in enormous flocks, 
feeding largely on shellfish. As a result of this food their flesh is 
not considered desirable. The genera Ayihya and Erismatura feed 
on vegetable substances, and their flesh is excellent. They greatly 
excel the river-ducks in their ability to dive; but on the wing 
their flight is less graceful, and they do not rise as easily from the 
water. 



568 The IVater-fowl Family 

Generic Types. Netta. Bill broad, widest at base, narrowing toward 
tip, longer than tarsus. Culmen much depressed toward tip. Nail 
large, more than one-third as wide as bill at middle. Outline of loral 
feathering straight or slightly concave. Tail short and rounded. 
Head of male crested. One species occurs as a straggler in North 
America. 

Aythya. Bill similar to Netta except in one species, but sometimes 
wider at tip than at base. Nail less than one-third as wide as bill at 
middle. Outline of loral feathering convex. Tail short and rounded. 
Head not crested. Five species occur in North America. 

Clangula. Bill much shorter than head, high and broad at base, 
and tapering to tip. Nail small and narrow. Nostrils in front of the 
middle of the bill. Tail rather long and rounded, more than twice as 
long as tarsus. Head of adult male green with white spot in front of 
eye. Two species found in North America. 

Charitonetta. Bill as in Clangula, but nostrils behind middle of 
bill. Tail rather long and rounded, about twice as long as tarsus. 
Head of adult male, purple, green, and violet, with broad white wedge 
behind eye. One species in genus, a native of North America. 

Harelda. Bill much shorter than head and about as long as tarsus, 
highest and widest at base, tapering to tip. Nail large and broad. 
Nostrils high and near base of bill. Anterior outline of loral feather- 
ing nearly a straight line. Tail pointed, the middle feathers in adult 
male, as well as the scapulars, much elongated, the former as long as 
wing. One species in genus, common throughout the northern 
hemisphere. 

Histrio7iicus. Bill very small and short, much shorter than head 
and shorter than tarsus, high and broad at base, tapering to tip. Nail 
very large and broad, occupying entire end of bill. Nostrils as in 
Harelda. Anterior outline of loral feathering convex. Tail short, 
about half as long as wing, the scapulars elongated. A metallic 
speculum. One species in genus found in northern North America. 

Camptolainitis. Bill nearly as long as head, very broad, width at 
base equal to one-half the length of the culmen, widened toward tip by 
leathery expansion on the edge of maxilla. Nostrils high in basal third 
of bill. Lamellae of under mandible prominent. Feathers of cheeks 
stiffened, bristle-Uke, with horny ends, extending in a convex line on 
side of upper mandible. Tail short. Speculum white. One species 
in genus, formerly in northeastern North America, now probably extinct. 

Eniconetta. Bill shorter than head, not swollen, and without pro- 
longations on forehead, compressed, width at base much less than half 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 569 

the length of the culmen, not feathered as far as the nostrils, the edges 
of the maxilla bent over the mandible. Nail very large and broad, 
forming tip of bill, not hooked. Nostrils near base and high on max- 
illa. Speculum violet. One species in genus, a bird of the far North. 

Ardonetta. Bill shorter than head, tapering from base to tip, not 
swollen, and without prolongations on forehead, feathered on the cul- 
men beyond the nostrils, this feathering sweeping backward in an 
oblique line from culmen to mouth. Nail as in Eniconetta. No specu- 
lum. Eyes surrounded by an elevated space of short, velvety feathers. 
One species in genus, found in Bering Sea. 

Somateria. Bill about half as long as head, much swollen, with 
prolongations stretching far back on forehead, feathering extending 
well forward on culmen and on sides toward nostrils. Nail large and 
broad, hooked and forming tip of bill. No speculum. Tertiaries 
curving downward over wing. Male black and white, female brown. 
Four species are found in North America, two confined to the North 
Atlantic, one to Bering Sea, and the fourth a bird of the far North. 

Oidemia. Bill much swollen at base, depressed at tip, with no pro- 
longations on forehead. Large, hooked nail forms entire tip of bill. 
Nostrils usually in front of the middle of bill. Feathering extending 
farther on culmen than on lores. No speculum. Male black, female 
dusky. Bills of males brightly colored. Four species occur in North 
America, but one only as a straggler, and all breed in northern lati- 
tudes. 

Erismatura. Bill about as long as head, very broad, almost as 
broad as high at base, and widened and depressed at end. Tail 
feathers very stiff, narrow, and pointed, with the shafts grooved on the 
lower side. Tail-coverts very short. Nail of bill very narrow at first, 
then widening, and curved in a hook over the mandible. One species 
is found in North America. 

Notnonyx. Similar to Erismatura ; but bill rather more narrow, 
with the nail large and broad and not bent downward in a hook over 
mandible. Inner secondaries long, folding over primaries. Only one 
species in genus, a native of tropical America. 
Subfamily Anserinae. The Geese. Type : Neck somewhat shorter 
than body. Tarsus longer than middle toe without claw. Bill usually 
short, high and compressed at base, and tapering to rather narrow tip, 
which has a broad nail. Lamellse present on mandible. Lores 
feathered. Tarsus with small, irregular plates in front. Hind toe 
without a lobe. Sexes alike. Wing rarely with metaUic speculum; 
no speculum in North American species. 



570 The PVater-fowl Family 

This subfamily contains in North America five genera and 
eighteen species and subspecies ; of these four occur only irregularly, 
and two others are chiefly confined to the southern border of the 
United States. The geese are large birds, with long and powerful 
wings and great powers of flight. Most of them inhabit the far North 
in the breeding season, — the genus Dend^-ocygna being an exception 
in North America, — coming at the approach of winter to the lakes 
and bays of the United States, where they assemble in large flocks. 
They are fine swimmers but do not dive, feeding consequently in 
shallow water and often on the land ; they feed chiefly on grasses 
growing either on water or land, and the flesh is therefore valuable 
for the table. 
Generic Types. Chen. Bill about as long as head and tapering, very 
stout at base and higher than broad, its depth at base more than 
half the length of culmen; the cutting edges of both mandibles 
bevelled off, leaving an elliptical space in which the large serrations or 
lamellae are very prominent. Nostrils in basal portion of bill. Head 
and neck of adults white. Bill and feet pink. Four species and sub- 
species found in North America. 

Anser. Bill not longer than head, tapering, very stout at base 
and higher than broad, but not as high as in Chen, its depth at base 
less than half length of culmen ; the cutting edges of mandibles 
slightly bevelled, leaving serrations somewhat exposed for more than 
half the edge. Nostrils in basal portion of the bill. Head and neck 
never white. Bill pink and feet yellow in North American species. 
Two species and one subspecies occur in North America, but two of 
them are only recorded from Greenland. 

Branta. Bill shorter than head, tapering, moderately stout at 
base; cutting edges very little, if at all, bevelled, and serrations only 
visible at extreme base. Nostrils in middle of bill. Head and neck 
black. Tail-coverts and crissum white. Bill and feet black. Eight 
species and subspecies are found in North America; of these two 
are only stragglers from Europe. 

Philade. Bill not longer than head, tapering, moderately stout, 
the nail very large, occupying nearly one-third of maxilla, serrations 
only visible at extreme base of maxilla. Nostrils in basal half of bill. 
Head white. Tail-coverts and crissum grayish. Bill pinkish and feet 
yellow. Skull with superorbital depressions. Only one species in 
genus, an inhabitant of the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. 

Dendrocygna. Bill much longer than head, the edges nearly 
parallel, not stouter at base. Nail prominent and decurved, serra- 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 571 

tions of maxilla not showing. Nostrils in basal portion. Hind toe 
more than one-third as long as tarsus. Plumage, bill, and feet varie- 
gated. Two species of genus are found in the southern United States. 

Subfamily Cygninae. Swans. Size very large. Neck as long or 
longer than body. Bill longer than head, broad and flat at base, 
with sides nearly parallel and a small nail at tip. Lores partly naked. 
Tarsus with small, irregular plates in front, shorter than middle 
toe and claw. Hind toe without a lobe. Sexes alike. Wing with- 
out metallic speculum. Tail' with twenty to twenty-four feathers. 

This subfamily contains four genera and eight or ten species, of 
which one genus, containing three species, is found in North America. 
They are the largest of the Anatidce, measuring more than three feet 
in length. The adults of species indigenous to the northern hemi- 
sphere are pure white in color. Like the geese they are vegetable 
feeders, frequenting retired localities, and seldom occur in large flocks. 
None of them are now common in most of North America. As a rule 
they are silent, but have a sonorous voice. 

Generic Type. Olor. Color of adults white. Tertiaries and scapulars 
normal. Tail rounded and longer than middle toe and claw. The 
young with downy lores, projecting in a distinct angle on the sides 
of the bill. The distinction between this genus and Cygnus is very 
unsatisfactory. Three species are found in North America, one occur- 
ring only in Greenland. 

THE RAILS 

Order Paludicolas (literally translated the "marsh dwellers"). 

Family Rallidae. Tke Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. A large family with 
many species, distributed over most of the world. Small or medium- 
sized birds with usually narrow bodies and powerful thighs, living in 
marshes and trusting to their strong legs, rather than to their short 
and rounded wings, for safety and subsistence. Divided into sub- 
families, — Rallina, Gallinulince, and Fulicinm. 

Family Type. Wing short, rounded, and concave, when folded not reach- 
ing to end of tail. Head completely feathered, or with frontal shield. 
Nostrils open. Tail soft and feeble, almost hidden by the coverts. 
Toes long, without basal membrane. Hind toe long. First quill 
longer than the seventh, its inner web normal. Wing less than ten 
inches long. Bill and feet vary greatly. 

Subfamily Rallinae. The Rails. Type : Forehead feathered to base of 
bill, no frontal shield. Toes without lobes. Body much compressed. 
Three genera — Rallus, Porzana, and Crex — in North America. 



572 The Water-fowl Family 

Generic Types. Rallus. Bill long, slender, decurved, longer than head, 
and as long as, or longer than, tarsus. Nasal groove long, deep, and 
narrow, extending about two-thirds of culmen. Nostrils in basal 
fourth, long and narrow. Tarsus equal to middle toe without claw. 
No pronounced angle on mandible. 

Porzana. Bill short, stout, straight, compressed, not longer than 
head, and not more than two-thirds as long as tarsus. Nasal groove 
broad, shallow, and extending about two-thirds of culmen. Nostrils 
in second fourth, broad and oblong. Tarsus not longer, often shorter, 
than middle toe without claw. No pronounced angle at gonys on 
mandible. F"olded wings not reaching nearly to end of tail. 

Crex. Similar to /brzawa, but tarsus longer than middle toe. Folded 
wings reaching nearly to end of tail. A pronounced angle on gonys. 

Subfamily Gallinulinae. The Gallinules. Type : Forehead with a broad, 
horny, frontal shield. Toes without lateral lobes. Body somewhat 
compressed. Bill much as in Porzana. Two genera in North 
America, — Gallinula and lonornis. 

Generic Types. lonornis. Bill very stout and high. Nostrils oval. 
Tarsus longer than middle toe without claw. Inner posterior sur- 
face of tarsus covered with a single row of large, square scales. Toes 
without lateral marginal membrane. 

Gallinula. Bill more slender and not so high. Nostrils elon- 
gated. Tarsus shorter than middle toe without claw. Inner poste- 
rior surface of tarsus covered with several rows of hexagonal scales. 
Toes with narrow marginal membrane. 

Subfamily Fulicinae. The Coots. Type : Bill and frontal plate of head 
as in GallinulincE. All toes with broad lateral lobes. One North 
American genus, — Fulica. 

Generic Type. Tarsus heavy, shorter than middle toe without claw, and 
covered with rather broad scales. Nostrils long and broad, near the 
middle of the bill. Plumage dark slate. Bill of adults whitish. 

THE SHORE-BIRDS 

Order Limicolae. (The shore-birds, literally translated the "mud-dwellers," 
so named from the habits of most of the order.) Wading birds, usu- 
ally of small size with short tails, long and usually pointed wings, 
usually long and pointed bill, long legs, and elevated, small, or want- 
ing hind toe, or if hind toe long, claws very long with a spur on the 
wing, and with prsecocial young. Seven families with nearly seventy 
species are found in North America. 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 573 

Family Phalaropodidae. The Phalaropes. A family containing three 
species of small, lobe-footed birds of aquatic habits, at least two species 
spending most of the year on the waters of the ocean. Three genera 
with one species in each, — Crymophilus, Phalaropus, and Steganopus. 

Family Type. Small size. Bill equal to or longer than head. Tarsus 
greatly compressed. Legs with transverse scales. Anterior toes with 
lateral membrane, posterior lobed. Neck long. Feathers of breast 
compact and ducklike. 

Generic Types. Crymophihis. Bill broad, straight, and flattened. Tarsus 
short, equal to middle toe and claw, also equal to culmen. Marginal 
web of toes broad, scalloped at joints. 

Phalaropus. Bill slender and pointed. Tarsus longer than middle 
toe and claw, but shorter than culmen. Marginal web on toes broad, 
scalloped at joints. 

Steganopus. Bill long, slender, pointed. Tarsus longer than mid- 
dle toe and claw, and equal to culmen. Marginal web narrow and 
barely scalloped. 

Crymophihis and Phalaropus are found throughout the northern 
hemisphere, while Steganopus is confined to America. 

Family Recurvirostridas. The Avocets and Stilts. A family of about a 
dozen species of large birds, noticeable for their peculiar bills and 
long, slender legs. Two genera in North America with one species in 
each, — Recurvirostra and Himantopus. 

Family Type. Size large. Bill very long and slender. Neck long. 
Legs long and slender. Tarsus covered with hexagonal scales, smaller 
behind. Anterior toes all somewhat connected by membrane. 

Generic Types. Recurvirostra. Bill strongly recurved. Tarsus not 
more than twice the length of middle toe and claw. Anterior toes 
fully webbed. Hind toe present. 

Himantopus. Bill nearly straight. Neck and legs very long. 
Tarsus more than twice the length of middle toe and claw. Anterior 
toes scarcely webbed and divided to the base. Hind toe absent. 

Family Scolopacid£e. The Woodcocks, Snipes, Sandpipers, etc. This 
is the largest family of the shore-birds, and of it about forty-five 
species have been recorded from North America, and of these 
several show geographical variation sufficient to entitle them to sub- 
specific names. Most of the birds commonly known as shore-birds 
belong to this family, and although the majority are small, a few are 
among the largest of the Limicolse. In coloring and shape of bill 
the species differ greatly, and tiiose occurring in North America are 
grouped in nineteen genera and several subgenera. 



574 The IVater-fowl Family 

Family Type. Agrees with PhalaropodidcB and Recurvirosiridcs in having 
the nostrils narrow and fissured, the nasal groove extending well 
toward tip of culmen, the bill lengthened and straight beyond the 
nostrils, and not compressed or indented around them. In addition, 
bill slender, usually longer than the head, the nasal groove ex- 
tending beyond middle with blunt, sometimes expanded, tip ; the 
last often soft and fleshy. Neck usually long. Tarsus with trans- 
verse scales before, and behind except in Numenuis. Toes not 
margined with membrane broadly to tips, with or without basal 
membrane. Hind toe generally present. 

Generic Types. Scolopax. Size medium. Bill much longer than tarsus; 
tip of upper mandible thickened. Ears placed beneath the eye. 
Plumage same at all seasons. Toes free to base. Head with trans- 
verse bands on top. Tips of tail feathers below silvery white. Thighs 
entirely feathered. Three outer primaries longest, and broad like 
the rest. Outer webs of quills spotted. One species in genus, a 
straggler to North America. 

Philohela. Size medium. Distinguished from Scolopax by having 
the three outermost primaries abruptly much shorter and narrower 
than the others and outer webs of quills plain. The only species of 
the genus is North American, 

Gallinago. Size medium. Distinguished from Scolopax by having 
the head marked longitudinally above, tips of tail feathers below, 
buff, and lower part of thighs naked. One species indigenous to 
North America, and two as stragglers. 

Macrorhamphus. Size medium. Bill much longer than tarsus. Tip 
of upper mandible thick. Outer and middle toes connected by web at 
base. Ears placed behind the eye. Plumage very different in summer 
and winter. (Both these latter characteristics common to rest of the 
genera of ScoIopacidcB.') Two species in genus, both North American. 
Micropalania. Size rather small. Bill long, slender, straight, slightly 
widened at tip. Tarsus very long, equal to bill and twice middle toe. 
Anterior toes united by web at base. One species in genus, belonging 
to North America. 

Trijtga. Size small or medium. Bill straight or slightly decurved, 
medium, very slightly widened at tip, about as long as head. Cul- 
men longer than middle toe with claw. Tarsus about equal to middle 
toe and claw. Anterior toes not webbed. Inner webs of quills and 
under primary coverts not mottled. Twelve species and one addi- 
tional subspecies are recorded from North America, of which ten 
occur regularly. These species are arranged in five subgenera, 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 575 

Eurynorhytnchus. Size small. Bill spoon-shaped, three times as 
wide near tip as at base. Toes not webbed. Only one species in 
genus, and that a straggler to North America. 

Ereunetes. Size small. Anterior toes webbed at base, thus differ- 
ing from Tringa. Two species in genus, both inhabiting North 
America. 

Calidris. Size small. No hind toe, thus differing from Tringa. 
One species in genus, common in North America. 

Limosa. Size large. Bill longer than tarsus, more than one-third 
as long as wing, thickened and curving upwards toward end. Nasal 
grooves extending almost to tip. Tail shorter than exposed culmen. 
Four species found in North America, of which one occurs only in 
Greenland. 

Totanus. Size medium or large. Bill nearly straight, slender, 
about as long as tarsus, not thickened at tip. Nasal groove not 
reaching to terminal fourth. Tail longer than exposed culmen. 
Tarsus much longer than middle toe without claw, and more than one 
and one-half times as long as toe. Toes very slightly webbed. Legs 
usually yellow. Three, possibly four, species are found in North 
America, two of which are only stragglers. 

Helodromas. Size small. Tarsus scarcely exceeding middle toe 
and claw. Legs greenish. Sternum single notched. Differs in these 
respects from Totanus. Two species and one subspecies in genus ; 
all occurring in North America, but one only as a straggler. 

Symphemia. Size large. Bill thick, slightly recurved, about as 
long as tarsus. Nasal groove reaching to about middle. Tarsus 
one and one-half times middle toe. Anterior toes markedly webbed 
at base. Legs bluish. Quills with a conspicuous white patch at base. 
One species with a subspecies in genus, at home in North America. 

Heteractitis. Size medium. Bill straight, heavy, much longer than 
tarsus. Nasal groove extending about two-thirds of culmen. Tarsus 
short, equal to middle toe and claw, and about three times as long as 
hind toe. Outer and middle toe connected by web, no web between 
inner and middle toe. Quills entire dark colored. Two species in 
genus, one found in North America. 

Pavoncella. Size medium. Bill straight, tapering, flattened at tip. 
Nasal groove extending nearly to tip. Tarsus very long, longer than 
bill, but not twice the length of the inner toe and claw. Bare part of 
tibia equal to about half the length of tarsus. Outer and middle 
toe connected at base by web. Tail not more than half as long as 
wing. Male much larger than female, and face of male in summer 



576 The IVater-fowl Family 

covered with fleshy tubercles, and neck with a ruff of long feathers. 
One species in genus, a straggler in North America. 

Bartramia. Size medium. Bill straight, shorter than head. Nasal 
groove extending nearly to tip. Tarsus very long, longer than bill 
and twice the length of inner toe and claw, and one and one-half 
times middle toe. Bare part of tibia equal to about one-half length 
of tarsus. Outer and middle toes connected by a web. Tail more 
than half as long as wing. Feathers extend farther on upper than on 
lower jaw. One species in genus, belonging to North America. 

Tryngites. Size small. Bill straight, shorter than head. Nasal 
groove extending nearly to tip. Tarsus short, longer than culmen 
and about equal to middle toe with claw. Toes cleft to base. Tail 
not half as long as wing. Feathers extend farther on lower than on 
upper jaw. Inner webs of quills and under primary-coverts beauti- 
fully mottled. One species in genus, belonging in North America. 

Actitis. Size small. Bill straight, medium, slightly longer than 
head. Maxilla and mandible grooved. Nasal groove extending three- 
fourths to tip. Tarsus short, about equal to middle toe and claw and to 
bill. Toes long, middle toe connected to outer by large web and with 
inner by small web. Bare part of tibia scarcely exceeding hind toe 
and claw. Tail not more than half as long as wing, but longer than 
exposed culmen. Two species in genus, only one found in North 
America. 

Numenius. Size large. Bill strongly decurved, always long but 
varying ; longer than tarsus and sometimes than tarsus and middle 
toe. Tip of upper mandible extending beyond lower. Nasal groove 
often extending through basal three-fourths of bill. Tarsus moderate 
in length and covered in front with transverse scales, and behind with 
small, hexagonal scales. Web between middle and outer toes to first 
joint, between middle and inner half as far. Hind toe small. Feathers 
of chin extending to opposite anterior end of nostrils. Of the eight 
species and one subspecies in this genus, three are natives of North 
America, two and perhaps three others occurring irregularly. 
Family Charadriidae. The Plovers. The largest family of shore-birds 
after the Scolopacida, swift flying, congregating like the sandpipers 
in large flocks and found like them throughout the world. The 
fourteen species and two subspecies recorded from North America 
are grouped in five genera. 
Family Type. Size small or medium. Nostrils oval, short. Nasal 
groove closed obtusely and abruptly and not extending beyond middle 
of maxilla, or shallowing out broadly. Bill rather short, compressed 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera S77 

and indented around nostrils, swollen and curved beyond them. 
Hind toe generally wanting. Neck short and thick. Bill shorter 
than tarsus, the tip usually hard. Tarsus covered with small, hexago- 
nal scales behind, and in front except in Vanellus. 
Generic Types. Vanellus, Size medium. Bill shorter than head and 
equal to middle toe without claw, straight, slightly decurved at hard 
tip, and slightly swollen at end of nasal groove. Nostrils in shallow 
grooves extending two-thirds of maxilla. Tarsus with transverse scales 
in front, small, hexagonal scales on sides. Web between outer and 
middle toes at base. Hind toe with claw present. Head with long 
occipital crest. Plumage of upper parts metallic. Inner secondaries 
broad and with tips rounded, the distance from shortest secondary to 
tip of the primaries less than half the length of the wing. One spe- 
cies in genus, a straggler to North America. 

Eudromias. Size small. Bill moderately stout, shorter than mid- 
dle toe without claw. Tibia feathered nearly to tibio-tarsal joint. 
No hind toe. Inner secondaries very long and pointed. The dis- 
tance from the shortest secondary to the tip of primaries more than 
half the length of the wing. No occipital crest. Upper parts of 
plumage brown without metallic lustre. Lower abdomen white. 
Tail not barred. One species in genus, according to Sharpe's classifi- 
cation, belonging to the Old World, but straggling to Alaska. 

Squatarola, Size medium. Bill similar to Va^iellus, but stouter 
and longer, about as long as head and equal to middle toe and claw. 
Nasal groove not prolonged much beyond middle of bill. Tarsus 
with small, hexagonal scales in front and on sides. Web between 
outer and middle toes at base. Hind toe with nail present but very 
small. Head not crested. Plumage of upper parts black and white, 
and entire lower parts medially black in summer. Tail barred. One 
species in genus, found through most of the world. 

Charadrius. Size medium. Similar to Squatarola, but bill smaller 
and more slender, shorter than head, and about equal to middle toe 
without claw. Hind toe absent. Plumage of upper parts spangled 
with black, white, and yellow. Two species and a subspecies in 
genus ; all found in North America, but only one widely distributed. 

Mgialitis. Size small or medium. Bill varying from short and 
heavy in M. meloda, short and slender in ^. dubia — in both shorter 
than middle toe without claw, to long and very heavy in ^. wihonia 
— equal to or longer than middle toe and claw. Upward swelling of 
maxilla at end of nasal groove, usually very marked. Nasal groove 
extending more than halfway to tip of maxilla. Tarsus with small, 

3P 



578 The IVater-fowl Family 

hexagonal scales in front and on sides. No hind toe. Anterior toes 
slender and basal webbing usually small. Plumage of upper parts 
plain, brown or gray, lower parts always white medially. Of the more 
than twenty species included in this genus, nine species and sub- 
species are found in North America, but three of them have little 
claim to be considered birds of the United States, Though agreeing 
in many points, these species differ so in others that they have been 
divided into four or five subgenera. 

Family Aphrizidae. The Surf Birds and Turnstones. This family 
consists of two genera and four species, most of which range widely 
over the world, frequenting chiefly rocky shores and beaches. All 
occur in North America. 

Family Type, Size medium. Agrees with the Charadriidce in the 
shape of the nostrils, character of nasal groove, the indentation of bill 
near nostril, and the length of the neck. Bill stout, not longer than 
tarsus. Nasal groove very distinct. Tarsus short, covered with trans- 
verse scales in front. Toes separate to base. Hind toe present. 

Subfamily Aphrizinae. The Surf Birds. Only one genus, — Aphriza. 

Generic Type, Bill about as long as head, terminal portion swollen and 
arched like a plover. Nasal groove extending more than halfway to 
tip. Tarsus longer than culmen. Tail emarginate. One species in- 
habiting Pacific Coast of America, 

Subfamily Arenarinae. Only one genus, — Arenaria. 

Generic Type, Bill shorter than head, terminal portion compressed and 
pointed, straight or slightly recurved. Nasal groove extending not 
more than halfway to tip. Tarsus equal to culmen. Tail slightly 
rounded. Three species in genus, of which two are confined to 
America and the third occurs in the northern part. 

Family Hsematopodidae, The Oyster-catchers. Large, odd-looking 
birds with brightly colored and strangely shaped bills. Shy and 
solitary in their habits, they range over the beaches of most of the 
world. Only one genus consisting of twelve species is contained in 
this family. 

Family Tj^e. Size large. Bill greatly compressed laterally beyond 
nostrils, not arched, pointed, longer than tarsus and about twice as 
long as head. Nostrils in basal fourth. Evident nasal groove not 
extending to middle. Bill and iris red or yellow. Tarsus heavy, 
covered with small, hexagonal scales. Toes stout and webbed between 
outer and middle at base. No hind toe. Four species in North 
America, one of which is a straggler from Europe, 

Genus Hsematopus. The generic type is the same as that of the family. 



Diagnoses of Families and Genera 579 

Family Jacanidae. The Jacanas. A family containing about a dozen 
species of small wading birds, that in form and habits are in many 
ways intermediate between the rails and the shore-birds. Their 
range is tropical, and their toes and claws are greatly lengthened to 
enable them to run on the broad leaves of the water-plants growing 
in the lakes and marshes of their habitat. 

Of this family only one genus — Jacana — and one species occurs 
in North America. 

Family Type. Size small. Bill ploverlike, but longer and more pointed ; 
the culmen depressed to end of nasal groove, then arched to tip. 
Nostrils small and elliptical. Nasal groove not extending beyond 
middle of maxilla. Neck medium. Wings with a spur at metacarpal 
joint. Legs long and slender. Tarsus longer than bill. Toes very 
long, with extremely long claws, that of hind toe longer than the toe 
itself. 

Generic Type; Jacana. Head with a frontal lappet, leaflike, and 
divided posteriorly. Primaries of normal shape. Spur on wing well 
developed and sharp. Tail short, central feathers not longer than 
the rest. 



INDEX 



AcHHs macularia, spotted sand- 
piper, 432. 

^gialitis dubia, little ring plover, 
470. 

^gialitis hiaticula, European ring 
plover, 469. 

^gialitis meloda, piping plover, 471. 

^gialitis meloda circumcincta, 
belted piping plover, 473. 

j^gialitis mongola, Mongolian plov- 
er, 475- 

/Egialitis montana, mountain plov- 
er, 478. 

Egialitis nivosa, snowy plover, 473. 

jEgialitis set?tipaltnaia, semipal- 
mated plover, 466. 

Egialitis vocifera, killdeer plover, 
464. 

Egialitis wilsonia, Wilson's plover, 

477- 
African geese, 217, 218. 
Aix sponsa, see Wood duck. 
Alaska — 

Emperor goose, 216, 251. 
Steller's duck, 163. 
Albinos among wild fowl, 204, 
Aleutian sandpiper [irijtga ptiloc- 

nemis couesi] 365. 
American avocet \recurvirostra 

americana\ 331, 
American coot \_fulica americana] 

298. 
American dunlin \tringa alpina 

pacifica\ 382. 
American eider \_s07nateria dresseri'\ 

168. 



American golden-eye {clangula clan- 
gula americand] 143. 

American golden plover \charadrius 
dominicus'\ 462. 

American merganser {merganser 
americanus^ 191. 

American oyster-catcher \_h(277tatopus 
palliaius'] 491. 

American scoter \_oidemia ameri- 
cana^ 174. 

American white-fronted goose [_an- 
ser albifrons ga?jibeli\ 228. 

American woodcock \_philohela 
minor ^ 340, 

Amherst, shore-bird shooting, 309- 
312. 

Anas boschas, see Mallard. 

Anas fulvigula, Florida duck, 85. 

Anas fitlvigula maculosa, mottled 
duck, 86. 

Attas obscura, see Black duck. 

Anas obscura rubripes, red-legged 
black duck, 84. 

Anatidce, see Water-fowl. 

Anser albifrons, European white- 
fronted goose, 228. 

Anser albifrotis gambeli, American 
white-fronted goose, 228. 

Anser fabalis, bean goose, 231. 

Anserince, see Geese. 

Aphriza virgata, see Surf bird. 

AphrizidcE, shore-bird species, 480. 
{See also Surf bird and Turn- 
stone.] 

Arctonetta fischeri, spectacled eider, 
165. 



581 



582 



Index 



Arenaria interpres, see Turnstone. 
Arenaria melanocephala, black turn- 
stone, 487. 
Atlantic Coast — 

Shore-bird shooting, 316. 

Stilt sandpiper resort, 356. 

White-rumped sandpiper resort, 

374-375- 

\_See also names of places, Long 
Island, etc.'\ 
Audubon — 

Labrador duck, 161, 162, 

Smew specimen, 200. 
Australia — 

Black swan, 260. 

Geese, 218. 

Sea-duck, 121. 
Aythya ajffinis, lesser scaup duck, 

137- 
Aythya americana, see Red-head. 
Aythya collaris, ring-necked duck, 

140. 
Aythya marila, scaup duck, 134. 
Aythya vallisneria, see Canvas-back. 
Avocets [recurvirostridce] — 

American, 331. 

Characteristics of family, 330. 

Diagnosis of family, 573. 

Baird's sandpiper {^tringa bairdii'\ 

376. 
Baldpate \_ma7-eca ai?iei-icana'] 91. 
Barnacle goose \branta leucopsis'] 

250. 
Barrow's golden-eye \clangula island- 

ica'\ 147. 
Bartramian sandpiper \_bartramia 

longicauda^ 428. 
Battery-shooting, 8. 

Description of battery, 32. 
Great South Bay, 33-37. 
Legislation against, 32. 
Bays, goose-shooting on, 205. 
Bean goose \anser fabalis'\ 231. 
Belding's rail \_rallus beldingi'\ 275. 



Belted piping plover \_jEgialitis me- 
loda circumcincta^ 473. 

Bering Islands, Steller's duck resort, 
163, 164. 

Bernicla canadensis minima, cack- 
ling goose, 242. 

Bernicula nigricans, black brant, 
248, 544. 

Black-bellied plover \_squatarola 
squatarola'\ 456. 

Black-bellied tree-duck [dendro- 
cygna auttwuialis'] 253. 

Black brant \branta nigricans^ 248, 

544- 
Blackbreast, black-bellied plover, 

457- 
Black duck \anas obscura'\ 79. 

Characteristics and habits, 80-84. 
Hybrids with mallard, 75, 201. 
Shooting, 81-83. 
Black duck, red-legged \^a7ias ob- 

scura rubripes'\ 84. 
Black-necked stilt \J1i7nantopus 

mexicanus"] 333. 
Black oyster-catcher \h(Eniatopus 

bacht?tajti'] 494. 
Black rail \_porzana jamaicensis^ 

291. 
Black swan found in Australia, 

260. 
Black-tailed godwit \^limosa limosa'] 

403- 
Black turnstone \arenaria melano- 
cephala'] 487. 
Blinds, duck-shooting from, 9. 
Bush-blinds, see that title. 
Construction of blind, 19. 
Red-head shooting, 126. 
Blue goose \_che7t ccerulescens] 225. 
Blue-winged teal \_qne7-quedula dis- 

cors] 99. 
Boats for duck-shooting, 19. 

Skags, 52. 
"Boleadores" used in catching 
swans, 260, 



Index 



583 



Bonaparte's sandpiper, name for 
white-rumped sandpiper, 

374- 
Booby, name for ruddy duck, 187. 
Bosworth farm, goose-shooting in 

the stubbles, 209. 
Brant — 

Black brant, 248, 544. 

Breeding and migration, 38, 245- 

248, 
Common brant, 243. 
Shooting — 

Chatham Bay, 38. 
Virginia, 41. 
Brant goose \branta bernida glau- 

cogastra\ 244. 
Brant Pond, duck-shooting, 21-24. 
Branta bernida, common brant, 

243- 
Branta bernida glaucogastra, brant, 

244. 
Branta canadettsis, see Canada 

goose. 
Branta canadensis hutchinsii, 

Hutchins' goose, 239. 
Branta canadensis occide7italis, 

white-cheeked goose, 241. 
Branta leucopsis, barnacle goose, 

250. 
Branta nigricans, black brant, 248, 

544. 
Breeding, interbreeding among wild 

fowl, 201-203. 
Briggs, J. J., instance of harlequin 

breeding, 159. 
Bristle-thighed curlew \numenius 

takitiensis~\ 449. 
Broadbill, scaup duck, and lesser 

scaup duck, 134, 137. 
Buff-breasted sandpiper \_tryngiles 

subrujicotlis'] 430. 
Buffle-head [charitonetta albeola'\ 

150, 530. 
Bunn, shore-bird shooting, Shinne- 

cock Bay, 306. 



Bush blinds, duck-shooting from, 
27. 
Red-head shooting, 126. 
Butterball, resort of, 152. 

Cackling goose \_bernida canadensis 

minima^ 242. 
Cairina moschata, see Muscovy duck. 
Caladris arenaria, Sanderling, 392. 
California — 

Duck-shooting, 503. 
Water-fowl of Pacific coast, see 
Pacific coast. 
California clapper rail [rallus obsole- 

tus'\ 276. 
California, Gulf of, home of quanti- 
ties of game, 559. 
Camptolair7ius labradorius, see Lab- 
rador duck. 
Canada goose {^branta canadensis'\ — 
Breeding, 233. 
Characteristics and habits, 232— 

239- 
Decoys, 205. 
Domestication, 5, 238. 
Hybrids, 5, 239. 
Massachusetts club sport, 236. 
Nest in Okanogan district, B.C., 

233- 
Night hunting, 238. 
North Carolina coast, 236. 
Pacific coast, 533. 
Resorts of birds and dates of 
visitation, 235. 
Canvas-back \^aythya vallisneria'\ — 
Characteristics, 128-133. 
Chesapeake Bay, destruction of 

game, 129. 
Pacific coast, 523. 
Shooting methods, 52, 131. 
Canvas decoys for duck-shooting, 18. 
Cape Cod — 

Brant season, 247. 
Shore-bird shooting at Monomoy, 
303- 



584 



Index 



Caribbean clapper rail \rallus longi- 
rostris caribceus\ 281. 

Carolina rail \_porzana Carolina] 
284. 

Carter, E., discovery of Barrow's 
golden-eye, 149. 

Casarca casarca, see Ruddy shel- 
drake. 

Charadriidce, see Plovers. 

Charadrius apricarius, European 
golden plover, 461. 

Charadrius dominicus, American 
golden plover, 461. 

Charadrius dominicus fulvus, Pacific 
golden plover, 462. 

Charitonetta c//5^o/«, buffle-head, 150. 

Chatham Bay — 

Brant departure, 247. 
Brant-shooting, 38. 

Chaulelasmtis streperus, gadwall, 87, 
527. 

Chen carulescens, blue goose, 225. 

Chen hyperborea, lesser snow goose, 
219. 

Chen hyperborea rivalis, greater 
snow goose, 223. 

Chen rossii, Ross's snow goose, 
227. 

Chenalopex agyptiacus, Egyptian 
goose, 217. 

Chesapeake Bay — 

Canvas-back destruction, 129. 
Shore-bird shooting, 307-309. 

Chesapeake dog, value in duck- 
hunting, II. 

Cinnamon teal [ querquedula cya- 
noptera'] 102, 512. 

Clangula clangula americana, 
American golden-eye, 143. 

Clangula islandica, Barrow's golden- 
eye, 147. 

Clapper rail \rallus crepitans] 270, 
277. 

Clapper rail, California, [rallus ob- 
soletus] 276. 



Clapper rail, Caribbean, [rallus longi- 

rostris caribous] 281. 
Clapper rails — 

Characteristics, 278-280. 

Eggs once abundant, 280. 

Subspecies, 278. 
Clubs for hunters, 10. 

California duck-hunting clubs, 

509.5"- 
Currituck Club, see that title. 
Live decoys, 17. 
Long Point duck-hunting, 46. 
Massachusetts goose-hunting, 
236. 
Cobb's Island, robin-snipe shooting, 

360. 
Colorado River, mouth of, congrega- 
tion of birds, 558-564. 
Common brant \brantaberniclci\ 243. 
Common redshank \_totanus totanus] 

415- 
Connecticut, rail-shooting at Essex, 

268-270. 
Cooper's sandpiper \tringa cooperi] 

37°- 
Coots \_fulicina:'\ 270, 272. 

American, 298. 

Diagnosis of family, 572. 

European, 301. 
Coots, name for white-winged scoter, 

180. 
Corn crake \_crex crex\ 293, 
Craft, see Boats. 
Crex crex, corn crake, 293. 
Crymophilus fulicarius, red phala- 

rope, 320. 
Curlew sandpiper [_tringa ferru- 

gineal 385. 
Curlews — 

Bristle-thighed, 449. 

Eskimo, 444. 

European, 438. 

Hudsonian, 440, 

Long-billed, 435. 

Whimbrel, 448. 



Index 



585 



Currituck Club — 

Duck-shooting, 20-24. 

Goose-shooting, 206-209. 
CygnincB, see Swans. 

Dafila acuta, see Pintail, 

Dan Petty, battery-shooting. Long 

Island, 33-38. 
Davy, shore-bird shooting, 308. 
Decoys, 7, 16. 
Canvas, 18. 
Dead ducks, 18. 
Live decoys, see that title. 
Locations for decoying ducks, 19. 
Making and coloring, 17. 
Placing, 18. 
Swan decoy, 206, 208. 
Decrease of water-fowl, see Water- 
fowl. 
Dendrocygna autumnalis, black-bel- 
lied tree-duck, 253. 
Dendrocygna fulva, fulvous tree- 
duck, 255, 514. 
Denmark, burrows dug for shel- 
drakes, 72. 
Destruction of water-fowl, see De- 
crease under Water-fowl. 
Dogs — 

Chesapeake dog, value in duck- 
hunting, II. 
Rail-hunting, 280, 288, 290. 
Dotterel \_eudromias morinellus'] 454. 
Dowitcher, name for red-breasted 

snipe, 349. 
Down of sea-ducks, value as article 

of commerce, 119. 
Duck-shooting — 

Battery-shooting, see that title. 
Blinds, see that title. 
Boats, see that title. 
Brant Pond, 21-24. 
California, 503. 
Chesapeake dog, value of, li. 
Clubs for hunters, see that title. 
Craft, see Boats. 



Duck-shooting \^continued'\ — 

Decoys, see that title. 

Flight-shooting difficulties in Cali- 
fornia, 505. 

Great South Bay, 33-37. 

Guns, 9. 

Ice-hole shooting, 60. 

James River experiences, 28. 

Line shooting, see that title. 

Long Point, 46. 

Methods, see Battery-shooting, 
Decoys, etc. 

Mexican experiences, 57. 

Narrows Island Club recollec- 
tions, 20. 

North Dakota recollections, 13. 

Pass shooting, see that title. 

Pearson's Pond, 50. 

Recollections, 6-7. 

Rice fields, wild, shooting in, 
24-27. 

River shooting, 56, 

Spring shooting, abolition neces- 
sary, 65-70. 

\_See also names of various ducks.'\ 
Ducks — 

Decrease of water-fowl, j^if Water- 
fowl. 

Diagnosis of family and genera, 
565. 

Mergansers, see that title. 

Pacific coast, see that title. 

River-ducks, see that title. 

Sea-ducks, see that title. 

Shooting, see Duck-shooting. 

\^See also names of various 
ducks.'] 
Dunlin \_tringa alpina] 381. 
Dunlin American, 382. 

Egyptian goose \chenalopex cegyp- 

tiacus] 217. 
Eider — 

American, 1 68. 

King, 172. 



586 



Index 



Eider \_continued'^ — 
Northern, i66. 
Pacific, 170. 
Spectacled, 165. 
Emperor goose \_philacie canagica'] 

216, 251. 
Eniconeita sielleri, Steller's duck, 

162. 
Ereunetes occidentalis, western sand- 
piper, 391. 
Ereunetes pusillus, semipalmated 

sandpiper, 388. 
Erismatura jamaicensis, ruddy 

duck, 185. 
Eskimo curlew [numenius borealis] 

444. 
Essex, rail-shooting, 268-270. 
Eudrotnias marine llus, dotterel, 

454. 

European coot \^fulica atra] 301. 

European curlew \_numenius arqua- 
tus'\ 438. 

European golden plover \chara- 
drius apricarius] 461. 

European greenshank {^totanus neb- 
ular {US'] 405. 

European green-winged teal \_neUion 
creccd] 95. 

European oyster-catcher \hamato- 
pus ostralegus^ 490. 

European ring plover \cBgialitis 
hiaticula] 469. 

European snipe \_gallinago galli- 
nago\ 341. 

European white-fronted goose \_anser 
albifrons\ 228. 

European widgeon \jnareca penel- 
ope'] 89. 

European woodcock \_scolopax rusti- 
cold\ 338. 

Eurynorhynchus pygmcsus, spoon- 
bill sandpiper, 387. 

Farallone rail \_porzana coturnicu- 
lus\ 292. 



Flight -shooting difficulties in Cali- 
fornia, 505. 

Florida clapper rail, 278. 

Florida duck [_anas fulviguld] 85. 

Florida gallinule \_gallinula gale-' 
atea'\ 296. 

Frazer's oyster-catcher {hczmatopus 
frazeri] 493. 

Fulica aniericana, American coot, 
298. 

Fulica atra, European coot, 301. 

Fulicina, see Coots. 

FuligulincB, see Sea-ducks. 

Fulvous tree-duck \dendrocygna 
fulva'] 255, 514. 

Gabbling goose, name for Hutchins' 

goose, 240. 
Gadwall \_chaulelasmus streperus^ 

87. 527- 
Gallinago delicata, see Wilson's 

snipe. 
Gallinago gallinago, European snipe, 

341- 
Gallinago major, great snipe, 346. 
Gallinula galeata, Florida gallinule, 

296. 
Gallinules, subfamily of rails, 270, 

272. 
Diagnosis of family, 572. 
Florida, 296. 
Purple, 294. 
Geese \anserin<B~\ — 
African, 217, 218. 
American white-fronted goose, 

228. 
Australian, 218. 
Barnacle goose, 250. 
Bean goose, 231. 
Black-bellied tree-duck, 253. 
Black brant, 248, 544. 
Blue goose, 225. 
Brant, see that title. 
Brant goose, 244. 
Cackling goose, 242. 



Index 



587 



Geese [contifiued'] — 

Canada goose, see thai title. 

Characteristics of family, 215. 

Common brant, 243. 

Diagnosis of family, 569. 

Egyptian goose, 217. 

Emperor goose, 216, 251. 

Europeap white-fronted goose, 
228. 

Food, value as, 216. 

Greater snow goose, 223. 

Hutchins' goose, 239. 

Lesser snow goose, 219. 

New Zealand, 219. 

Pacific coast, see that title. 

Ross's snow goose, 227. 

Shooting, see Goose-shooting. 

Snow goose, see that title. 

Tree-ducks, see that title. 

White-cheeked goose, 241. 

White-fronted goose, see that 
title. 
Godwits — 

Black-tailed, 403. 

Hudsonian, 400. 

Marbled, 395. 

Pacific, 397. 
Golden-eye — 

American, 143. 

Barrow's, 147. 
Golden plover — 

American, 462. 

European, 461. 

Pacific, 463. 
Goose-shooting — 

Bays, shooting on, 205. 

Cunning of the wild goose, 
205. 

Currituck Club, 206-209. 

Live decoys, 205. 

Mexican experiences, 212. 

Stubble fields, shooting in, 209. 

\^See also Geese.] 
Gray back, name for red-breasted 
snipe, 349, 352. 



Gray yellowlegs \_totanus melano- 

leucus frazari'\ 410. 
Great snipe [^gallinago niajor~\ 346. 
Great South Bay, battery shooting, 

33-37- 
Greater snow goose \^chen hyperborea 

nivalis^ 223. 
Greater yellowlegs \_totanus melano- 

leucus'] 407. 
Green sandpiper \_helodromas ochro- 

pus'\ 420. 
Green-winged teal \ftettion caro- 

linensis'] 95. 
Green-winged teal, European [^ttet- 

tion crecca'\ 95. 
Green-winged teal, Pacific coast, 519. 
Grinnell, G, B., account of yellow 

rail, 289. 
Gulf of California, home of quanti- 
ties of game, 559. 
Guns, duck-shooting, 9. 

Harelda hy emails, old-squaw, 153. 
Harlequin duck \histrionicus histri- 

onicus'] 157. 
Heligoland — 

European woodcock, netting, 

339- 

Velvet scoters' resort, 177. 

Helodromas ochropus, green sand- 
piper, 420. 

Helodromas solitarius, solitary sand- 
piper, 416. 

Helodromas solitarius cinnamomeus, 
western solitary sand- 
piper, 419. 

Heteractitis incanus, wandering 
tattler, 425. 

Himantopus mexicanus, black- 
necked stilt, 333. 

Histrionicus histrionicus, harlequin 
duck, 157. 

HcematopodidtB, see Oyster-catchers. 

Hcematopus bachmani, black oyster- 
catcher, 494. 



588 



Index 



Hamatopus frazeri, Frazer's oyster- 
catcher, 493. 

Hcematopus ostralegus, European 
oyster-catcher, 490. 

Hamatopus palliatus, American 
oyster-catcher, 491. 

Hooded merganser \lophodytes cucul- 
latus\ 197. 
Contest with wood duck for nest, 
198. 

Hospital Point, battery-shooting, 

35- 
Hudsonian curlew {^numenitis hud- 

sonicus] 440, 
Hudsonian godwit \_limosa hcemas- 

tica\ 400. 
Hunting, see Duck-shooting, Goose- 

-shooting, etc. 
Hutchins' goose \_branta cana- 
densis kutchinsit^ 239. 
Hybrids — 

Canada goose, 5, 239. 
Characteristics, 5, 203. 
Interbreeding among wild fowl, 

201-203. 
Mallard, 75, 201-202. 

Ice-hole duck-shooting, 60. 
Iceland — 

Knot eggs taken in 1890, 362. 
Protection to breeding eiders, 4. 
Interbreeding among wild fowl, 
201-203. 
\^See also Hybrids.] 
lonornis martinica, purple gallinule, 

294. 
Irrigated land, fondness of water- 
fowl for, 511. 

Jacana spinosa, Mexican jacana, 497. 
Jacanas \_jacanidcB'] — 

Asia, species found in, 497. 

Characteristics of family, 496. 

Diagnosis of family, 579. 

Mexican, 497. 



Jamaica, abundance of clapper 

rail, 281. 
James River — 

Broadbill flocks, 140. 
Canvas-back resort, 130. 
Duck-shooting, 28. 
Sora rail hunting, 288. 
Jim Bosworth, goose-shooting in 
the stubbles, 209. 

Killdeer plover \_cEgialitus vocifera'\ 
464. 

King eider [^somateria spectabilis'\ 
172. 

King rail [rallus elegans'] 274. 

Knot, tringa canutus, 357. 

Krieker, name for pectoral sand- 
piper, 313, 371. 

Labrador duck [camptolaimus lab- 
radorius'} 160. 
New York museum collection, 

162. 
Rareness of, 161. 
Webster, D., birds killed by, 
161. 
Lake Erie, canvas-back shooting, 

52. 
Lapwing \yanellus vanellus'\ 452. 
Least sandpiper \tringa minu- 

tilla'\ 377. 
Lesser scaup duck \_aythya affi.nis~\ 

137- 

Lesser snow goose \_chen hyper- 
borea'] 219. 

Lesser yellowlegs {^tetanus fla- 
vipes'\ 412, 

LimicolcE, see Shore-birds. 

Limosa fedoa, marbled godwit, 395. 

Litnosa kcBtnastica, Hudsonian god- 
wit, 400. 

Limosa lapponica baueri. Pacific 
godwit, 397. 

Limosa limosa, black-tailed godwit, 
403- 



Index 



589 



Line shooting — 

Description of method, 62-63. 
White-winged scoter, 180. 
Little ring plover \_(Sgialitis dubial 

470. 
Live decoys — 

Duck-shooting, 17. 
Goose-shooting, 205. 
Lockhart, Mr., nests of buiHe- 

head, 151. 
Long-billed curlew \numenius lon- 

girosiris] 435. 
Long Island — 

Battery-shooting, 33-37. 
Brant season, 245, 246. 
Shinnecock Bay, see that title. 
Stilt sandpiper resort, 356. 
White-winged scoter resort, 179- 
181. 
Long Point, duck-shooting, 46. 
Long-toed stint \tri71ga damacensis] 

380. 
Lophodytes cucullatus, see Hooded 

merganser. 
Louisiana clapper rail, 278. 

Macrorhamphus griseus, red- 
breasted snipe, 348. 

Macrorhatripkus scolopaceus, red- 
bellied snipe, 352. 

Magdalen Islands, Eskimo curlew, 

445- 
Mallard \_anas boschasl 73. 

Characteristics and habits, 76-79. 
Geographical range, 76. 
Hybrids, 75, 201-202. 
Pacific coast, 515. 
Shooting, 78. 
Marbled godwit \li?nosa fedoa\ 395. 
Mareca americana, baldpate, 91. 
Mareca penelope, European widgeon, 

89. 
Market gunning and the destruction 

of game, 68. 
Marshes, shore-bird shooting, 312. 



Masked duck [itomonyx dominicus'\ 

188. 
Massachusetts, Canada goose hunt- 
ing, 236. 
Mauritius, manner of catching rail, 

1675. 273. 
Meadow-hens, name for clapper rail, 

279. 
Merganser americanus, American 
merganser, 191. ,; 

Merganser serrator, red-breasted 

merganser, 194. 
Mergansers \inergin(2\ — 
American, 191. 
Characteristics, 190. 
Diagnosis of family, 565. 
Hooded merganser, see that 

title. 
Red-breasted, 194. 
Smew, 199. 
MergincE, see Mergansers. 
Mergus albellus, smew, 199. 
Metric's, Amherst shore-bird sport, 

309. 
Mexican jacana \_jacana spinosa"] 

497- 
Mexico — 

Black-bellied tree-duck, 1901, 

254. 
Cinnamon teal, 103. 
Duck-shooting experiences, 57. 
Goose-shooting experiences, 212. 
Greater yellowleg haunt, 409. 
Sora rail, 286. 
Warfare on water-fowl, 4. 
Micropalama himantopus, stilt sand- 
piper, 355. 
Migration of water-fowl, 3. 
Mississippi, wood-duck shooting, 514. 
Mongolian plover [tsgialitis mon- 

golaj 475. 
Monomoy Island, shore-bird shoot- 
ing, 303- 
Moore, N. B., description of Florida 
duck, 85-86. 



590 



Index 



Mottled duck \_anas fulvigula macu- 
losa^ 86. 

Mountain plover \_<Tgialitis mon- 
tana^ 478. 

Mud goose, name for Hutchins' 
goose, 240. 

Muscovy duck \^cairinamosckata'] 73. 
Hybrids with mallard, 75, 202. 

Mute svi'an, description, 259, 260. 

Nantucket Sound, American eider re- 
sort, 169. 

Narrovi's Island Club, see Currituck 
Club. 

Netta rufina, rufous-crested duck, 
121. 

Netting birds in Heligoland, 178, 

339- 

Nettion carolinensis, green-winged 
teal, 95. 

Nettion crecca, European green- 
winged teal, 95. 

New York Museum, Labrador duck 
specimens, 162. 

New Zealand geese, 219. 

Nomonyx dominicus, masked duck, 
188. 

North Carolina, Canada goose hunt- 
ing, 236. 

North Dakota — 

Goose-shooting in the stubbles, 

210. 
Lesser snow goose, 221. 
Pass-shooting recollections, 13. 
Red-head resort, 125. 

Northern eider \_somateria viollis- 
shna borealis'] 166. 

Northern phalarope \_pJialaropns lo- 
batus'] 323. 

Norway, protection to breeding ei- 
ders, 4. 

Numenius arquatus, European cur- 
lew, 438. 

Numenius borealis, Eskimo curlew, 
444. 



Numenius hudsonicus, Hudsonian 

curlew, 440. 
Numenius longirostris, long-billed 

curlew, 435. 
Numenius phceopus, whimbrel, 448. 
Numenius tahitiensis, bristle-thighed 

curlew, 449. 

Oidemia americana, American sco- 
ter, .174. 
Oidemia deglandi, see White-winged 

scoter. 
Oidemia fuse a, see Velvet scoter. 
Oidemia perspicillata, surf scoter, 

182. 
Old-squaw \harelda hyemalis'\ 153. 
Olor buccinator, trumpeter swan, 

265. 
Olor columbianus, see Whistling 

swan. 
Olor cygnus, whooping swan, 267. 
Oyster-catchers \hcematopodida'\ — 
American, 491. 
Black, 494. 

Characteristics of family, 489. 
Diagnosis of family, 578. 
European, 490. 
Frazer's, 491. 

Pacific coast, water-fowl of — 
Ducks — 

Abundance in recent years, 

503-505- 

California shooting, 503, 

Canvas-back, 523. 

Cinnamon teal, 512. 

Gad wall, 527. 

Green-winged teal, 519. 

Mallard, 515. 

Occasional ducks and varia- 
tions, 529. 

Pintail, 521. 

Red-head, 524. 

Ruddy duck, 530. 

Spoonbill, 517. 



Index 



591 



Pacific coast [coniinued'\ — 
Ducks [continued'\ — 
Widgeon, 526, 530. 
Wood-duck, 514. 
Geese — 

Abundance in recent years, 

533- 
Canada goose, 533. 
Difficulties of hunting, 532. 
Occasional, 543. 
Salt-water goose, 544. 
Snow goose, 541, 543. 
White-fronted goose, 539, 

544- 
Sand-hill crane, 553. 
Shore-birds, 557. 
Swan hunting, 551. 
Waders, 557. 
Pacific eider \_somate7'ia v-nigra] 

170. 
Pacific godwit \_lintosa lapponica 

baueri\ 397. 
Pacific golden plover \_charadrius 

dominicus fulvus\ 463. 
Pass shooting — 

Locations, etc., 12. 
North Dakota recollections, 13. 
Pavoncella pugnax, ruff, 426. 
Pearson's Pond, duck-shooting, 50, 
Pectoral sandpiper \tringa macu- 
lata] — 
Characteristics, 370-373. 
Shooting on the marshes, 313. 
Phalaropes \J)halaropodidcE\ — 
Characteristics, 319. 
Diagnosis of family, 573. 
Northern, 323. 
Red, 320. 
Wilson's, 327. 
Phalaropus lobatus, Northern phala- 

rope, 323, 
Philacte canagica. Emperor goose, 

251. 
Philohela minor, American wood- 
cock, 340. 



Pied-duck, see Labrador duck. 
Pintail \dafila actita] 109. 

Hybrids with mallard, 75, 202. 

Pacific coast, 52 j. 
Piping plover \cegialitis meloda] 471. 
Piping plover, belted, 473. 
Plovers \charadriidcB'\ — 

American golden plover, 462. 

Belted piping, 473. 

Black-bellied, 456. 

Characteristics of family, 451- 

452- 
Diagnosis of family, 576. 
Dotterel, 454. 
European golden, 461. 
European ring, 469. 
Golden plover, see that title. 
Killdeer, 464. 
Lapwing, 452. 
Little ring, 470. 
Mongolian, 475. 
Mountain, 478. 
Pacific golden plover, 463. 

Piping, 471- 

Ringed plover, see that title. 
Semipalmated, 466. 
Snowy, 473. 
Wilson's, 477. 
"Plovers' eggs" laid by lapwing, 453. 
Porzana carolitta, Carolina rail, 284. 
Porzana coturniculus, farallone rail, 

292. 
Porzana jamaicensis, black rail, 291, 
Porzana noveboracensis, yellow rail, 

288. 
Porzana porzana, spotted crake, 284. 
Pribilof Islands, turnstone, 486. 
Pribilof sandpiper \tringa ptilocne- 

misl 367. 
Prince Edward's Island, blackbreast- 

shooting, 458. 
Purple gallinule \ionornis martin- 

ica'\ 294. 
Purple sandpiper [tringa maritima'] 
362. 



592 



Index 



Querquedula cyanoptera, see Cinna- 
mon teal. 

Querquedula discors, blue-winged 
teal, 99. 

Rail-shooting, 268, 

Essex sport, 268-270. 

Season, 268. 

\^See also Rails.] 
Rails [^rallidcz] — 

American coot, 298. 

Belding's rail, 275. 

Black rail, 291. 

California clapper rail, 274. 

Caribbean clapper rail, 281. 

Carolina rail, 284. 

Characteristics and habits, 270- 
273. 

Clapper rails, see that title. 

Corn crake, 293, 

Diagnosis of family, 571. 

Dogs used in hunting rail, 280, 
288, 290. 

European coot, 301. 

Flight, species without power of 
flight, 273. 

Florida gallinule, 296. 

Gallinules, see that title. 

Haunts of, 268. 

King rail, 274. 

Mauritius, manner of catching 
rail, 1675, 273, 

Purple gallinule, 294. 

Shooting, see Rail-shooting. 

Spotted crake, 284. 

Subfamilies, 270. 

Varieties, 270, 

Virginia rail, 281. 

Yellow rail, 288. 
.Pallida, see Rails. 

Kallus beldingi, Belding's rail, 275. 
Rallus crepitans, clapper rail, 270, 

277. 
Rallus crepitans saturatus, Louisiana 
clapper rail, 278. 



Rallus crepitans scottii, Florida clap- 
per rail, 278. 
Rallus crepitans waynei, Wayne's 

clapper rail, 278. 
Rallus elegans, king rail, 274. 
Rallus longirostris caribaus, Carib- 
bean clapper rail, 281. 
Rallus obsoletus, California clapper 

rail, 276. 
Rallus virginianus, Virginia rail, 

281. 
Recollections of duck-shooting, 

6-7. 
Recurvirostra americana, American 

avocet, 331. 
Recurvirostridce, see Avocets and 

Stilts. 
Red-backed sandpiper \fringa al- 

pina pacijica'\ 382. 
Red-bellied snipe \niacrorhamphus 

scolopaceus'\ 352. 
Red-breasted merganser \inerganser 

serrator'] 194. 
Red-breasted sandpiper, 358. 
Red-breasted snipe \jnacrorhamphus 

griseus'] 348. 
Red-head \_aythya. americana'] — 
Characteristics, 123-128. 
Pacific coast, 524. 
Resorts, 124-127. 
Shooting methods, 125-127. 
Red-legged black duck \^anas obscura 

rubripes~\ 84. 
Red phalarope \_crymophilus fulica- 

rius] 320. 
Red River settlement, snow-goose 

anecdote, 222. 
Redshank, common, 415. 
Rice fields, wild, duck-shooting in, 

24-27. 
Ring-necked duck \_aythya collaris] 

140. 
Ringed plover — 
European, 469, 
Little, 470, 



Index 



593 



River-ducks {^anaiidts'] — 

Baldpate, 91. 

Black duck, see thai title. 

Blue-winged teal, 99. 

Characteristics of family, 70-72. 

Cinnamon teal, see that title. 

Diagnosis of family, 566. 

European green-winged teal, 95. 

European widgeon, 89. 

Flight, 71. 

Florida duck, 85. 

Gadwall, 87, 527. 

Green-winged teal, see that title. 

Mallard, see that title. 

Mottled duck, 86. 

Pintail, see that title. 

Red-legged black duck, 84. 

Ruddy sheldrake, see that title. 

Shoveller, 105. 

Teal, see that title. 

Wood-duck, see that title. 
Rivers, duck-shooting on, 56. 
Robin-snipe, name for knot, 359, 

360. 
Ross's snow goose \_chen rossiil 227. 
Ruddy duck \erismatura jamai- 
censis'\ 185. 

Pacific coast, 530. 
Ruddy sheldrake \casarca casarca'] 
104. 

Burrows dug for, in Denmark, 
72. 
Ruff [pavoncella pugnax'\ 426. 
Rufous-crested duck \netta rujina'] 
121. 

Salt-water goose. Pacific coast, 544. 
Sanderling \_caladris arenaria'] 392. 
San Diego Bay, black-brant resort, 

545-549. 
Sandpipers — 
Aleutian, 365, 
American dunlin, 382. 
Baird's, 376. 
Bartramian, 428. 
2Q 



Sandpipers \_continued'\ — 

Black-tailed godwit, 403. 

Bristle-thighed curlew, 449. 

Buff-breasted, 430. 

Common redshank, 415. 

Cooper's, 570. 

Curlews, see that title. 

Diagnosis of family, 573. 

Dunlin, 381. 

Eskimo curlew, 444. 

European curlew, 438. 

European greenshank, 405. 

Godwits, see that title. 

Gray yellowlegs, 410. 

Greater yellowlegs, 407. 

Green, 420. 

Hudsonian curlew, 440. 

Hudsonian godwit, 400. 

Knot, 357. 

Lesser yellowlegs, 412. 

Long-billed curlew, 435. 

Long-toed stint, 380. 

Marbled godwit, 395. 

Pacific godwit, 397. 

Pectoral sandpiper, see thai title. 

Pribilof, 367. 

Purple, 362. 

Red-backed, 382. 

Ruff, 426. 

Sanderling, 392. 

Semipalmated, 388. 

Solitary, 416. 

Spoonbill, 387. 

Spotted, 432. 

Stilt, 355. 

Wandering tattler, 425. 

Western, 391. 

Western solitary, 419. 

Western willet, 424. 

Whimbrel, 448. 

White-rumped, 373. 

Willet, 421, 

Yellowlegs, see that title. 
San Joaquin Valley — 

Duck-shooting, 511. 



594 



Index 



San Joaquin Valley \^continued'\ — 
Geese, abundance in recent 
years, 533. 
Sand-hill crane shooting, 553. 
Scaup duck \_aytkya j?iarila'\ 134. 
Scaup duck, lesser, \_ayihya afftnis\ 

137- 
Scolopacidm, species of shore-birds, 

336. 

\_See also Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and Sandpipers.] 
Scolopax rusiicola, European wood- 
cock, 338. 
Scoters — 

American, 174. 

Despised by hunters, 176, 185, 

Line shooting, 62. 

Surf scoter, 182. 

Velvet scoter, see that title. 

White-winged scoter, see that 
title. 
Sea-ducks [fuliguli7ice\ — 

American eider, 168. 

American golden-eye, 143. 

American scoter, 174. 

Australian variety, 121. 

Barrow's golden-eye, 147. 

Buffle-head, see that title. 

Canvas-back, see that title. 

Characteristics, 118-121. 

Diagnosis of family, 567. 

Diving experts, 118. 

Down of eider, 119. 

Eider, see that title. 

Harlequin duck, 157. 

King eider, 172. 

Labrador duck, see that title. 

Lesser scaup duck, 137. 

Masked duck, 188. 

Northern eider, 166. 

Old-squaw, 153. 

Pacific eider, 170. 

Red-head, see that title. 

Ring-necked duck, 140. 

Ruddy duck, 185. 



Sea-ducks \_continued~\ — 

Rufous-crested duck, 121. 

Scaup duck, 134. 

Scoters, see that title. 

Shooting, 61. 

Spectacled eider, 165. 

Steamer-duck, 120. 

Steller's duck, 162. 

Surf scoter, 182. 

Velvet scoter, see that title. 

White-winged scoter, see that 
title. 
Semipalmated plover \_agialitis 

semipalmata'\ 466. 
Semipalmated sandpiper \_ereunetes 

pusillus'] 388. 
Sharp-tailed sandpiper \_tringa acu- 
minata'] 368. 
Sheldrake, see Ruddy sheldrake. 
Shinnecock Bay — 

Dowitcher shooting, 349. 

Shore-bird shooting, 306. 
Shooting, see Duck-shooting, Goose- 
shooting, etc. 
Shore-bird shooting — 

Amherst shooting, 309-312. 

Chesapeake Bay sport, 307-309. 

Destruction of game, 303, 316. 

Monomoy Island experience, 
1886, 303. 

Season, 302. 

Shinnecock Bay experience, 306. 

Wading the marshes, 312. 

l^See also Shore-birds.] 
Shore-birds [limicolce] — 

Avocets, see that title. 

Characteristics and habits, 317- 

319- 
Destruction, 303, 316. 
Diagnosis of family, 572. 
Godwit, see that title. 
Golden plover, see that title. 
Haunts, wide range of birds, 315. 
Jacanas, see that title. 
Oyster-catchers, see that title. 



Index 



595 



Shore-birds \_coniinued'\ — 
Pacific coast, 557. 
Phalaropes, see that title. 
Plovers, see that title. 
Ringed plovers, see that title. 
Sandpipers, see that title. 
Shooting, see Shore-bird shoot- 
ing. 
Snipe, see that title. 
Species found in North America, 

319- 

Stilts, see that title. 

Surf bird, see that title. 

Turnstone, see that title. 

"Wilson's snipe, see that title. 

Woodcocks, see that title. 

Yellowlegs, see that title. 
Shoveller \_spatula clypeata'\ 105. 
Siberian coast, Steller's duck resort, 

164. 
Skag, boat for duck-shooting, 52. 
Smew \inergus albellus'\ 199. 
Snipe — 

Diagnosis of family, 573. 

Dowitcher, 349. 

European, 341. 

Great, 346. 

Red-bellied, 352. 

Red-breasted, 348. 

Wilson's snipe, see that title. 
Snow goose — 

Greater, 223. 

Lesser, 219. 

Pacific coast, 541, 543. 

Ross's, 227, 
Snowy plover \j2gialitis nivosa'] 473. 
Solitary sandpiper \hel0dr07nas soli- 

tarius'] 416, 
Solitary sandpiper, western, 419. 
Somateria dresseri, American eider, 

168. 
Somateria mollissima borealis, north- 
ern eider, 166, 
Somateria spectabilis, king eider, 
172. 



Somateria v-nigra. Pacific eider, 
170. 

Sora, Carolina rail, 285. 

South America — 

Steamer-duck, species of sea- 
duck, 120. 
Swan, peculiar method of catch- 
ing, 260. 

Spatula dypeata, shoveller, 105-109. 

Spectacled eider \_arctonetta Jischeri'\ 
165. 

Spoon-bill \_eurynorhynchus pyg- 
mceus'\ 387. 
Pacific coast, 517. 

Spotted crake \_porzana porzana\ 
284. 

Spotted sandpiper \actitis macu- 
laria'\ 432. 

Sprigtail, name for pintail duck, 521. 

Spring shooting, abolition necessary, 
65-70. 

Squatarola squatarola, black-bellied 
plover, 456. 

Steamer-duck — 

American merganser, 193. 
Sea-duck species, 120. 

Steganoptis tricolor, Wilson's phala- 
rope, 327. 

Stejneger, Dr., manner of catching 
rail in Mauritius, 1675, 

273- 
Steller's duck \eniconetta stelleri'] 

162. 
Stilt sandpiper \_micropalama himan- 

topus'] 355. 
Stilts \recurvirostridce'\ — 
Black-necked, 333. 
Characteristics of family, 330. 
Diagnosis of family, 573. 
Stint, long-toed, 380. 
Stubble fields, goose-shooting, 209. 
Surf bird \_aphriza virgata^ 481. 

Diagnosis of family, 578. 
Surf scoter \_oidemia perspicillata'\ 
182. 



596 



Index 



Swans \_cygnincB'] — 

Age, long life of swans, 260. 

Black swan found in Australia, 
260, 

Characteristics, 258-260. 

Currituck Bay decoy, 206, 208. 

Diagnosis of family, 571. 

Distinction from other birds of 
family, 258. 

Mute swan, 259, 260. 

Pacific coast, 551. 

South American swan, 260. 

Trumpeter swan, 265. 

Whistling swan, see that title. 

Whooping swan, 267. 
Symphemia semipalmata, willet, 421. 
Symphemia semipalmata inornata, 
western willet, 424. 

Tampico, black-bellied tree-duck, 

1901, 254. 
Tattler, wandering, 425. 
Teal — 

Blue-winged, 99. 
Cinnamon teal, see that title. 
Green-winged teal, see that title. 
Totanus Jlavipes, lesser yellowlegs, 

412. 
Totanus melanoleucus, greater yel- 
lowlegs, 407. 
Totanus melanoleucus frazari, gray 

yellowlegs, 410. 
Totanus nebularius, European 

greenshank, 405. 
Totanus totanus, common redshank, 

415- 
Tree-duck — 

Black-bellied, 253. 
Fulvous tree-duck, 255, 514. 
Relation to anserina, 217. 
Tringa acuminata, sharp-tailed 

sandpiper, 368. 
Tringa alpina, dunlin, 381. 
Tringa alpina pacifica, red-backed 
sandpiper, 382. 



Tringa hairdii, Baird's sandpiper, 

376. 
Tringa canutus, knot, 357. 
Tringa cooper i. Cooper's sandpiper, 

370- 

Tringa damacensis, long-toed stint, 
380. 

Tringa ferruginea, curlew sand- 
piper, 385. 

Tringa fuscicollis, white-rumped 
sandpiper, 373. 

Tringa maculata, see Pectoral sand- 
piper. 

Tringa maritima, purple sandpiper, 
362. 

Tringa minutilla, least sandpiper, 

377- 

Tringa ptilocnemis, Pribilof sand- 
piper, 367. 

Tringa ptiloctiemis couesi, Aleutian 
sandpiper, 365. 

Trumpeter swan \_olor buccinator'\ 
265. 

Tryngites subruficollis, buff-breasted 
sandpiper, 430, 

Turnstone \arenaria interpres'\ 
482. 
Diagnosis of family, 578. 

Turnstone, black, 487. 

Vaftellus vanellus, lapwing, 452. 
Velvet scoter \_oidemia fusca\ 
176. 
Diet, Heligoland instance, 177. 
Netting, 178. 
Virginia rail \_rallus virginianus'\ 
281. 

Waders, Pacific coast, 557. 
Wading the marshes, shore-bird 

shooting, 312. 
Wandering tattler \heteractitis in- 

canus~\ 425. 
Wat Green, duck-shooting on James 

River, 28. 



Index 



597 



Water-fowl {^anatida] — 
Albinos, 204. 
Avocets, see that title. 
Characteristics, i. 
Colorado River, mouth of, con- 
gregation of birds, 558- 

564. 
Decrease, 63. 

Market gunning, 68. 
Protection of wild fowl, need 

of, 4-5, 66-70. 
Restrictions as to quantity of 

game killed, 68. 
Spring shooting, abolition 

necessary, 65-70. 
Diagnoses of families and genera, 

565. 
Ducks and Duck-shooting, see 

those titles. 
Eider, see that title. 
Geese, see that title. 
Goose-shooting, see that title. 
Hybrids, see that title. 
Interbreeding, 201-203. 
Irrigated land, fondness of water- 
fowl for, 511. 
Jacanas, see that title. 
Mergansers, see that title. 
Mexican warfare, 4. 
Migration, 3. 

Oyster-catchers, see that title. 
Pacific coast, water-fowl of, see 

that title. 
Phalaropes, see that title. 
Plovers, see that title. 
Rail-shooting and Rails, see those 

titles. 
Relation of wild fowl to domestic 

fowl, 5. 
River-ducks, see that title. 
Sandpipers, see that title. 
Scoters, see that title. 
Sea-ducks, see that title. 
Shooting, see Duck-shooting, 

Goose-shooting, etc. 



Water-fowl [continued ] — 

Shore-birdsaw^ Shore-bird shoot- 
ing, see those titles. 
Snipe, see that title. 
Stilts, see that title. 
Surf bird, see that title. 
Swans, see that title. 
Teal, see that title. 
Turnstone, see that title. 
Uses as food and clothing, 4. 
Woodcocks, see that title. 
Yellowlegs, see that title. 
\_See also natnes of species.'] 
Wayne's clapper rail, 278. 
Webster, D., Labrador duck killed 

by, 161. 
Western sandpiper \_ereunetes occi- 

dentalis'] 391. 

Western solitary sandpiper [helo- 

dromas solitarius cinna- 

momeus'] 419. 

Western willet \_symphe??tia semipal- 

mata inornata'] 424. 
Whimbrel \_nujnenius phceopus'] 448. 
Whistling swan \_olor colutnbia 
nus'\ — 
Characteristics, 261-264. 
Migration incident, 259. 
White-cheeked goose \_bratita cana- 
densis occidentalis'\ 241. 
White-fronted goose — 
American, 228. 
European, 228. 
Pacific coast, 539, 544. 
White-rumped sandpiper \tringa 

fuscicollis'] 373. 
White-winged scoter \_oidemia de- 
glandi'] — 
Description, etc., 178-182. 
Line shooting, 180. \ 
Whooping swan \_olor cygnus'] 267. 
Widgeon, European, \_mareca penel- 

ope'] 89. 
Widgeon, Pacific coast, 526, 530. 
Wild fowl, see Water-fowl. 



598 



Index 



Willet \symphemia semipalmaia] 
421. 

Willet, western, 424. 

Wilson's phalarope \_steganopus tri- 
color'] 327. 

Wilson's plover \_cegialitis wilsonia] 

An- 

Wilson's snipe \_gallinago delicaia] — 
Characteristics and habits, 342- 

346. 
Pacific coast, 557. 
Popularity, 314, 343. 
Shooting, wading the marshes, 
312. 
Woodcock \_scolopacida'\ — 
American, 340. 
Diagnosis of family, 573. 
European, 338. 



Wood-duck \^aix sponsa] 113. 

Contest with merganser for nest, 

198, 
Mississippi tributaries, 514. 

Yellowlegs — 
Gray, 410. 
Greater, 407. 
Lesser, 412. 

Shooting, wading the marshes, 
312. 
Yellow rail \_porzana noveboracensis] 

288. 
Yellowstone Park, protection to 

water-fowl, 4, 69. 
Yuma, trip to mouth of Colorado 
River, 558, 560. 

F. C. 



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